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Treatment of Behçet’s Disease - Review
Erkan Alpsoy
Summary
Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic, relapsing, systemic vasculitis of unknown aetiology with clinical features of mucocutaneous lesions, ocular, vascular, articular, gastrointestinal, urogenital, pulmonary and neurologic involvement. The disease is particularly prevalent in “Silk Route” populations but has global distribution. BD affects primarely young subjects. The diagnosis is based on clinical criteria, as there is as yet no pathognomonic test. The disease runs a chronic course with unpredictable exacerbations and remissions. The male sex and a younger age of onset are associated with more severe disease, and in addition to considerable morbidity, the disease confers an increased mortality, mainly because of large vessel involvement, especially pulmonary arterial, neurologic involvement and bowel perforation. No standard therapy has yet been established for the treatment of BD, and a wide spectrum of therapeutic agents has been used with varying degrees of success. Treatment of the disease has become much more effective in recent years with the introduction of new drugs. This review overviews the current literature on the therapeutic approaches in the treatment of BD, including local and systemic agents. (Turkish Journal of Dermatology 2007; 1: 1-7)
Key words: Behçet’s disease, treatment, review
Article in Turkish
(Use the link for full-text in Turkish)
[Abstract]
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