Subclinical neurological involvement in Behçet's disease.
BACKGROUND
Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder with unknown etiology characterized by recurrent oral and genital aphthous ulcers and uveitis. Behçet's disease can affect the central nervous system.


OBJECTIVE
We aimed to investigate subclinical neurological involvement in patients who were suffering from BD and who had no neurological symptoms.


METHODS
A total of 49 patients were included in the study. For the investigation of subclinical neurological involvement, the patients received imaging and/or neurophysiologic evaluations.


METHODS
The evaluation techniques were as follows: single photon emission computed tomography, 33 patients; cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 25 patients; brainstem auditory evoked potential examination, 36 patients; and electroencephalography (EEG), 30 patients.


METHODS
The Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum W test were used.


RESULTS
Patients in the MRI and EEG groups showed significantly more abnormalities than did age- and gender-matched controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Early diagnosis of neurological involvement in BD is important in reducing or preventing complications. Cranial MRI and EEG were found to be useful for detecting subclinical neurological abnormalities in patients with Behçet's disease.
Tunç
Tugba
T
Department of Neurology, Ankara Research and Training Hospital, Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey. tugbatunc@yahoo.com
Ortapamuk
Hülya
H
Naldöken
Seniha
S
Ergun
Ufuk
U
Ciliz
Deniz
D
Atasoy
Hüseyin Tugrul
HT
Okuyucu
Esra
E
Inan
Levent E
LE
Eksioglu
Meral
M
D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon