[Retinal vasculitis in Behçet's disease]

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic disorder characterized by primary vasculitis of unknown etiology. We studied retinal vasculitis in 35 patients with ocular form of BD. All patients fulfilled the International Study Group criteria for BD. Mean age was 30.8 +/- 6.5 years (19-45 years, mean follow-up period 4.1 +/- 1.29 years (3-10 years. The disease occurred 3.3 times more often in men than in women (p = 0.0003). Retinal vasculitis was diagnosed in 26 (74.3%) of 35 patients with ocular form of BD. Retinal vascular changes characteristic of BD were bilateral in 96.1% cases and involved both arteries and veins. The earliest changes were detectable only by fluorescent angiography. Diffuse capillary leakage was observed in all cases during the active period of disease, involving the posterior pole. The disk and macular capillaries were involved most of all. Late staining of vasculature was observed in 68.6% patients. No ruptures of retinal vessels, retinal neovascularization, or areas of retinal nonperfusion were observed (except one case with occlusion of a branch of the central retinal vein), which are usually seen in other types of retinal vasculitis. Visual acuity was significantly decreased in patients with retinal occlusive vasculitis in comparison with patients without it (0.04 +/- 0.09 vs. 0.3 +/- 0.3, p = 0.029).