Arterial manifestations of Behçet disease

Abstract

Behçet disease is an uncommon systemic process that appears most often in the third or fourth decade of life. It is characterized by recurrent orogenital ulcers and ocular and cutaneous inflammatory lesions. Cardiovascular involvement, which may be arterial or venous, is rare but carries a particularly poor prognosis. Three new cases are reported, and they are characterized by typical orogenital and cutaneous manifestations and associated severe vasculitis. The arterial findings in these cases were occlusions and aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms of the aorta and pulmonary, brachiocephalic, and visceral arteries. From these cases and those previously reported, arterial involvement in Behçet disease can be characterized by saccular aneurysms or occlusions of multiple large vessels in young adults.