title: Behçet's disease in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia: possible role of interferon-alpha treatment in the occurrence of Behçet's symptoms.
abstract: Two patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) who developed characteristic features of Behçet's disease (BD) during alpha-interferon (IFN-alpha) treatment and another patient who had a diagnosis of BD preceding CML are presented. In the first two patients, features of BD appeared 6 months after the initiation of IFN-alpha treatment: they included recurrent oral aphthae, genital ulceration, arthritis, folliculitis, and a positive skin pathergy test. The third patient, however, had a diagnosis of Behçet's disease 4 years before diagnosis of Philadelphia-positive CML. We prospectively examined the skin pathergy reaction in a group of patients with CML, multiple myeloma, and hairy cell leukemia both before and after IFN-alpha treatment and found two additional patients with CML who developed a positive skin pathergy test following IFN-alpha treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Marmara University Hospital, Altunizade-Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Budak-Alpdoğan
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Demirçay
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alpdoğan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Direskeneli
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ergun
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bayik
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akoğlu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000502:physiology; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha