Prolonged small vessel vasculitis with colon mucosal inflammation as first manifestations of Behçet’s disease

Abstract

Behçet’s disease is a chronic, relapsing, systemic vasculitis of unknown aetiology. Patients present manifestations of gastrointestinal complications, including mouth lesions, small and large intestinal lesions, and vascular lesions in the abdomen. In some cases, the intestinal ulcers of patients with Behçet’s disease are indistinguishable from those of Crohn’s disease, tuberculosis, vasculitis and other diseases. In this article, we present a case of atypical Behçet’s disease with a complicated medical history and multisystem damage, for the purpose of better management of this disease.

Keywords: Behçet’s disease; Vasculitis; Intestinal ulcers

Core tip: Behçet’s disease is systemic inflammatory vasculitis of unknown aetiology. Its clinical manifestation of gastrointestinal complications varies greatly. Diagnosis is mainly based on typical clinical findings: no specific serum markers or pathological features are available. However, in clinical practice, it is often challenging to make a prompt and correct diagnosis when gastroenteropathy is presented as the initial or predominant manifestation in Behçet’s disease patients. The disease is sometimes misdiagnosed as inflammatory bowel disease or other disorders. We present a case of atypical Behçet’s disease with a complicated medical history and multisystem damage, for the purpose of better management of this disease.