New Evidence-Based Treatment Approach in Behçet's Disease

Abstract

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic, relapsing, and debilitating systemic vasculitis of unknown aetiology with the clinical features of mucocutaneous lesions, ocular, vascular, articular, neurologic, gastrointestinal, urogenital, and pulmonary involvement. The disease is much more frequent along the ancient "Silk Route" extending from Eastern Asia to the Mediterranean basin, compared with Western countries. The disease usually starts around the third or fourth decade of life. Male sex and a younger age of onset are associated with more severe disease. Although the treatment has become much more effective in recent years, BD is still associated with severe morbidity and considerable mortality. The main aim of the treatment should be the prevention of irreversible organ damage. Therefore, close monitoring, early, and appropriate treatment is mandatory to reduce morbidity and mortality. The treatment is mainly based on the suppression of inflammatory attacks of the disease using immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive agents. In this paper, current state of knowledge regarding the therapeutic approaches is outlined. To provide a rational framework for selecting the appropriate therapy along the various treatment choices, a stepwise, symptom-based, evidence-based algorithmic approach was developed.