title: Chronicle of a death foretold: a case of catastrophic vascular Behcet's disease.
abstract: A 20-year-old man with Behcet's disease characterized by recurrent arterial aneurysms presented with a new aortic root aneurysm. This patient previously had aneurysms of the coronary arteries and vein, as well as ruptured renal artery aneurysm. Chronic maintenance immunosuppressive therapy was recommended due to the catastrophic nature of the disease, which the patient refused to take. The patient died shortly after admission. This case demonstrates the unique catastrophic natural history of vascular Behcet's disease with recurrent life-threatening arterial events, and this case stresses the therapeutic dilemma of maintenance immunosuppressive therapy in selected patients.
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount Scopus Campus, Jerusalem, Israel. dplaner@md.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Planer
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leibowitz
authors.forename: Yair
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Elitzur
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Korach
authors.forename: Nurith
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiller
authors.forename: Tova
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chajek-Shaul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D016312:Treatment Refusal
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents