Effect of Immunosuppressive Agents on Recurrence of Cardiovascular Involvement of Behcet's Disease

Objective: Despite the high risk for disease-related morbidity and mortality in Behcet's disease (BD) with cardiovascular (CV) manifestations, only a few studies concerning BD with CV involvements are available. We conducted study to evaluate the clinical manifestations of CV BD (cardiovascular Behcet's disease) and the clinical outcome according to the different treatment modalities, especially focusing on the immunosuppressive agents. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1,812 patients diagnosed with BD at tertiary hospital. All patients with vascular involvements were classified into three groups by lesion site. We assessed clinical characteristics, treatments, outcome and recurrence in each group. Results: Of 1,812 patients, 79 patients showed CV involvements. Male to female ratio was 65 (82.3%) to 14 (17.7%). Venous involvements occurred in 57 cases (72.2%), arterial lesions in 22 (27.8%), cardiac involvements 16 (20.3%). In clinical manifestation, only hypertension and arthritis were more frequently found in cardiac lesion than in venous lesion (p=0.01, p=0.01,