Evaluation of myocardial perfusion in patients with Behçet's disease.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia (SMI) in patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and to identify a subgroup of patients at higher risk for the presence of SMI.


METHODS
We evaluated 41 patients (mean age 42.8 +/- 12.3 years) with BD and 35 healthy control subjects. Treadmill exercise test and thallium-201 myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) were performed in all subjects. Coronary angiography was performed in all patients with a diagnosis of SMI in Behçet's group.


RESULTS
All subjects had normal resting electrocardiograms. Eight patients with BD (19.5%) had evidence of ischemia on exercise testing and myocardial perfusion SPECT. Only one SMI positivity (2.9%) was recorded in the control group. Significant coronary stenosis was not found with coronary angiography in the patients with a diagnosis of SMI in Beçet's group. SMI positivity was recorded in 2 of 18 female patients (11%) and in 6 of 23 male patients (26.1%) with BD (p = 0.429). The mean duration of BD was 13.8 +/- 2.6 years in patients with SMI and 7 +/- 4.1 in patients without it (p < 0.001). Seven of the 8 patients (87.5%) with SMI had a duration of BD of greater than 10 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study show that the prevalence of SMI is high in patients with BD. Based on our findings, screening with myocardial perfusion scintigraphy may be recommended for patients with duration of BD greater than 10 years.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ankara Education Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. sturkolmez@yahoo.com
Seyda
S
Türkölmez
Nahide
N
Gökçora
Mehmet
M
Alkan
Mehmet Ali
MA
Gorer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013793:Thallium; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C027549:thallium chloride; D013793:Thallium