title: Evaluation of arterial stiffness and subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with Behçet's disease without cardiovascular involvement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was conducted to evaluate arterial structure and function with assessment of pulse wave velocity (PWV) and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in patients with Behçet's disease (BD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients (13 female, 17 male) with BD and 30 age, sex-matched healthy controls (12 female, 18 male) with no known cardiovascular disease were enrolled in this study. Carotid-femoral PWV and CIMT were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PWV was higher in BD patients compared with control group (6.35±1.05 vs. 5.75±0.83, respectively; p=0.017). There was no significant difference in maximum CIMT (0.751±0.077 mm vs. 0.735±0.079 mm, respectively; p=0.435), or mean CIMT (0.643±0.070 mm vs. 0.629±0.069, respectively; p=0.452). Maximum CIMT, mean CIMT, and PWV were positively correlated with duration of disease (r=0.410, p=0.025; r=0.404, p=0.027; and r=0.362, p=0.049, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that endothelial function is impaired in cases of BD before visible structural changes to arterial wall. PWV is more useful measurement than CIMT in determination of vascular damage in BD, especially in early stage of disease duration.
authors: Department of Cardiology, Kars State Hospital, Kars, Turkey.
authors: Alp
authors: A
authors: Yıldırım
authors: Department of Cardiology, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey. mserkan19@hotmail.com.
authors: Mustafa Serkan
authors: MS
authors: Karakaş
authors: Department of Cardiology, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey.
authors: Ali Yaşar
authors: AY
authors: Kılınç
authors: Department of Cardiology, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey.
authors: Refik Emre
authors: RE
authors: Altekin
authors: Department of Cardiology, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey.
authors: Ali Selim
authors: AS
authors: Yalçınkaya
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology*