Pulmonary manifestations in a group of patients with Behcet's disease.
OBJECTIVE
In this study we investigated the frequency and characteristics of pulmonary manifestations in a group of patients with Behcet's disease (BD) who were admitted to Cairo University Hospital.


METHODS
Fifteen patients were included in our study, 14 men (93.3%) and one woman (6.66%).Their mean age was 30.06 ± 9.8 years and the mean age of onset of BD was 23.7 ± 5.54 years. All patients were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, plain chest X-ray and helical computed tomography (CT) study of the chest.


RESULTS
Pulmonary involvements were detected in 11 patients with BD, 73.3% of cases: 10 men (90.9%) and one woman (9.09%).Their mean age was 28.8 ± 8.07, the mean age of onset of BD was 23.2 ± 5.59 years and the mean disease duration until lung manifestations appear was 3.7 ± 4.8 years. The main pulmonary and constitutional symptoms in these 11 patients were as follows: dyspnea 81.8%, cough 63.6%, weight loss 63.6%, chest tightness 54.5%, hemoptysis 45%, massive hemoptysis 27.2%, fever 36.3% and expectoration 36.3. Analysis of both vascular and parenchymal lung lesions in helical CT scan in the 11 patients with BD were as follows: pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA) occurred in 5/11 patients (45.4%), pulmonary nodules occurred in 3/11 patients (27.2%), pleural effusion occurred in 3/11 patients (27.2%), pulmonary embolism and infarction occurred in 1/11 patients (9.09%) and pneumonitis occurred in 1/11 patients (9.09%).


CONCLUSIONS
The higher frequency of pulmonary manifestations in our patients (73.3%) and the higher frequency of PAA (33.3%) could be related to the fact that this study was conducted on a group of patients who were admitted to the hospital with more severe illnesses.
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA.
Amr
A
Edrees
Department of Internal Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Sherif
S
Naguib
Department of Internal Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Manal
M
El Menyawi
Department of Radiology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Ihab
I
Ismail
Department of Internal Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Hamdy
H
Nagah
D000328:Adult; D000783:Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000072226:Computed Tomography Angiography; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission; D011379:Prognosis; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed; D055815:Young Adult
vasculitides; vasculitides (clinical aspects)