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      Managing Behçet’s disease: An update on current and emerging treatment options

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          Abstract

          Behçet’s disease is an autoinflammatory vasculitis of unknown origin characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, uveitis, arthritis and skin lesions. Additionally, involvement of the gastrointestinal tract, central nervous system and large vessels may occur. The disease is prevalent in countries along the ancient Silk Road from Eastern Asia to the Mediterranean Basin. Many treatment modalities are currently available. The choice of treatment depends on organ involvement and severity of disease. Topical treatment with corticosteroids is often sufficient for mucocutaneous involvement, however for more severe disease with vasculitis or neurological involvement a more aggressive approach is warranted. Newer drugs (biologicals) influencing cytokines and thereby T-cell function are promising with an acceptable side effect profile. Unfortunately, reimbursement of the costs of biologicals for rare disease is still a problem in various countries. In this report we discuss the current treatment modalities for Behçet’s disease.

          Most cited references35

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          Behçet's disease.

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            Criteria for diagnosis of Behçet's disease. International Study Group for Behçet's Disease.

            5 sets of criteria for diagnosis of Behçet's disease are in use--a problem which has hindered interpretation of different studies and collaborative research. An international study group, which included at least one proponent of 4 of the sets, was formed to derive new, internationally agreed diagnostic criteria for Behçet's disease. Data on 914 patients with Behçet's disease, from 12 centres in 7 countries, were compared with controls from the same centres. The new set of diagnostic criteria--which requires the presence of oral ulceration plus any two of genital ulceration, typical defined eye lesions, typical defined skin lesions, or a positive pathergy test--was simpler to use and had an improved discriminatory performance than its predecessors.
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              Behçet's syndrome: disease manifestations, management, and advances in treatment.

              The acne lesions characteristic of Behçet's syndrome are not sterile and are commonly observed in combination with arthritis. The two main nodular skin lesions--superficial thrombophlebitis and erythema nodosum--are equally frequent, and rather difficult to distinguish. Superficial thrombophlebitis is usually observed in combination with thrombosis in large veins, and thrombosis of the large veins usually clusters with dural sinus thrombi, which make up approximately 20% of all central nervous system (CNS) lesions of Behçet's syndrome. The remaining CNS lesions are parenchymal, mainly located in the brainstem, and associated with a graver prognosis than dural sinus thrombi. The presence of clinical clusters indicates that there are at least two pathogenetic pathways in Behçet's syndrome: a reactive arthritis pathway and a thrombophilia pathway. Research into the pathogenesis of Behçet's syndrome has shown that the most consistent genetic marker of Behçet's syndrome is HLA-B51; however, the genetic association of this true-to-form 'complex' disorder with HLA-B51 is only 20%, and a whole-genome study showed associations with 16 different loci. The severity of Behçet's syndrome and the mortality associated with it tend to decrease with time, and there is no associated increase in incidence of atherosclerosis. Although treatment of skin-mucosa manifestations, eye disease and pulmonary artery aneurysms has improved significantly in the past decades, the treatment of CNS lesions and thrombophilia are still problematic.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Ther Clin Risk Manag
                Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management
                Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management
                Dove Medical Press
                1176-6336
                1178-203X
                2009
                2009
                20 May 2009
                : 5
                : 385-390
                Affiliations
                Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Immunology, Erasmus MC, ‘s Gravendijkwal 230, 3015 CE Rotterdam, The Netherlands
                Author notes
                Correspondence: P LA van Daele, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Immunology, Erasmus MC, ‘s Gravendijkwal 230, 3015 CE Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Tel +31 10 703 4937, Fax +31 10 703 5954, Email p.l.a.vandaele@ 123456erasmusmc.nl
                Article
                tcrm-5-385
                2697543
                19536320
                aa8be59c-0589-467f-a1fa-4fb9eeffc9d2
                © 2009 van Daele et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd.

                This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Categories
                Review

                Medicine
                behçet’s disease,biologicals,treatment
                Medicine
                behçet’s disease, biologicals, treatment

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