Evaluation of endothelial functions in patients with Behcet’s disease without overt vascular involvement

Objectives: Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcerations and ocular lesions. This multisystemic disorder primarily affects the vascular system. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate vascular endothelial function in patients with Behcet’ s disease without vascular involvement.
Study design: We studied 40 patients with BD (44.9±5.4 years) and 20 healthy controls (45.4±8.2 years). Brachial artery Doppler ultrasonography (USG) and bilateral carotid artery intima-media thickness measurements were performed.
Results: Basal diameter of the brachial artery were similar between the two groups. However, flow-mediated dilation was markedly impaired in patients with Behcet’ s disease (p=0.03). Nitrate-induced dilation values were similar between the two groups (p=0.16). Carotid artery intima-media thickness was slightly increased in the patient group compared to the control group, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (0.69±0.15 to 0.59±0.09 respectively; p=0.06).
Conclusion: Vascular endothelial function is impaired in BD. Brachial artery Doppler USG is a reliable and reproducible method to establish changes in vascular functions.

Keywords: Behcet syndrome/ultrasonography, carotid intima-media thickness; echocardiography, Doppler, pulsed; endothelium, vascular; ventricular dysfunction