Doppler Microembolic Signals in Behcet s Disease with Nervous System Involvement

Background: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multisystemic inflammatory vasculitisof unknown etiology, and vasculitis being its major pathological feature.Objectives: We studied the prevalence of microembolic signals (MES) inpatients with diagnosis Behçet s disease. We also tried to determine thefrequency of MES in BD patients with or without neurological involvement.Materials and Methods: This study enrolled 40 patients who fulfilled thediagnostic criteria of International Study Group for BD during 2012 to 2013.Bilateral transcranialDoppler ultrasound of the middle cerebral arteries wasperformed by multigate method. MES were identified based on the criteria ofInternational Consensus group on Microembolus Detection.Results: We found MES in none of our patients with BD. We measured intimamediathickness in all patients.Conclusion: It seems that in our population core histopathologic phenomenonto be other than MES andvasculiticphenomenonmay be implicated as apathophysiologic factor for central nervous system involvement.Theclarification of this subject needs further investigations on Iranian BD patients.

Keywords:

Behçet’s Disease , Transcranial Doppler , Microembolic SignalsArticle