Findings of Carotid Artery Color Doppler Ultrasonography in Patients With Behcet Disease

Background: The Behcet disease is a multisystemic disease with involvement of vessels. Objectives: Our aim is to evaluate the frequency of carotid artery disease in asymptomatic carotid artery involvement in patients withBehcet disease and compare the results with a control group. Patients and Methods: Fifty patients with Behcet disease who were asymptomatic for any vascular involvement and 50 healthy volunteersparticipated in this study. We compared intima–media thickness (that is measured manually) and plaques in carotid arteries. Results: Mean intima–media thickness in the patient group was 0.562 ± 0.133 mm in the right and 0.566 ± 0.140 in the left common carotidartery. In the control group, mean intima–media thickness was 0.526 ± 0.127 in the right and 0.500 ± 0.105 in the left common carotidartery. The only significant difference between groups was the larger intima–media thickness of the left common carotid artery in thepatients (P = 0.009). No plaque was seen in the carotid arteries of the control group. Conclusions: Behcet disease may be associated with subtle increased intima–media thickness in the carotid artery, so it can be apredisposing factor for atherosclerotic arterial disease.

Keywords:

Behcet Syndrome , Carotid Artery , Ultrasonography , Doppler , Color