[Lumbar spinal nerve root compression syndrome as an atypical initial manifestation of a rare vascular disease]

A 55 year old male Turkish patient developed L3/L4 root compression caused by a retroperitoneal hematoma after covered perforation of the infrarenal aorta. The aneurysm was resected and a tube interposition made. For more than 20 years the patient has suffered from oral and scrotal ulcers. These signs led to the diagnosis of Behçet's disease. A review of the literature revealed 200 arterial complications (aneurysms and occlusions) in 105 patients with Behçet's disease, only 19 of them had aneurysms of the infrarenal aorta.