Evaluation of asymptomatic venous disease by Doppler ultrasonography in Behçet's disease patients

Aim of the work Evaluation of asymptomatic venous disease in patients with Behçet's disease (BD) using venous Doppler ultrasonography (US) and its relation to different disease manifestations and activity. Patients and methods Twenty-two BD patients (20 males and 2 females) with a mean age of 36.9 ± 10.6 years and disease duration of 10.8 ± 11.3 years without any known vascular disease and 22 age and sex matched controls were enrolled in this study. The Behçet's disease current activity form (BDCAF) was used to assess disease activity. Patients and controls were subjected to venous Doppler US for both upper and lower limbs as well as the inferior vena cavae (IVC). The Clinical-Etiology-Anatomy-Pathophysiology (CEAP) severity score was used to evaluate the severity of venous insufficiency. Results The 22 patients had a mean BDCAF score of 2.2 ± 0.2. No venous thrombosis or thrombophlebitis was detected in patients or controls. Three patient (13.6%) and one control (4.5%) revealed venous-insufficiency (venous reflux >1 s) in the lower extremities. The venous-insufficiency involved the superficial venous system and involved the deep venous system in 1 patients and the control. The lower limb veins were normal on both sides as regards compressibility, wall thickness and competency of perforator veins. Upper extremity veins were totally normal in all subjects. Conclusion No superficial, deep venous dysfunction on both lower or upper limbs and/or IVC thrombosis was found in BD patients. Further follow-up venous Doppler for BD patients even without vascular complications is recommended to detect subclinical cases that may predict future thrombotic events.