Hand involvement in Behçet's disease.
OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical hand findings in Behçet's disease (BD) and to observe scintigraphic changes of these areas.


METHODS
Fifty-seven randomly selected BD patients and the patients in the control group (N=40) were evaluated by two blind rheumatologists. The hands were examined for the presence of pain, tenderness, swelling, effusion, erythema, warmth, range of motion and limitation of motion, deformities and muscle atrophy. Then scintigraphic examination of the hands was performed. Control hand scintigrams were obtained from 40 age- and sex-matched patients and were examined by the same two observers.


RESULTS
Thirty-two of the 57 patients (56.1%) showed Behçet's clinical hand findings. Terminal phalangeal pulp atrophy was observed in 17 (29.81%), rheumatoid-like hand findings were observed in 16 (28.1%), dorsal interosseos atrophy was observed in 12 (20.05%) and erythema over the digits was observed in 12 (20.05%). Twenty-four patients (42.1%) had scintigraphic involvement. The disease duration was observed to be an important factor for hand findings (P=0.040) and scintigraphic involvement (P=0.011).


CONCLUSIONS
High prevalence of hand involvement in BD and its relationship with disease duration is demonstrated. Hand involvement tends to be overlooked and careful examination is required in the evaluation of BD. The scintigraphic involvement detected in hands requires special consideration, too.
Yurtkuran
Merih
M
Division of Rheumatology, Atatürk Rehabilitation Center, Uludag University, Kükürtlü C.98, 16080 Bursa, Turkey.
Yurtkuran
Mustafa
M
Alp
Alev
A
Sivrioglu
Koncuy
K
Dilek
Kamil
K
Tamgaç
Feyzi
F
Alper
Eray
E
Tunali
Sükran
S
Saricaoğlu
Hayriye
H
Nasircilar
Aşkin
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018771:Arthralgia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001284:Atrophy; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004487:Edema / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D004890:Erythema / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005384:Finger Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006227:Hand Deformities, Acquired / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D015995:Prevalence; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate