Behçet disease associated with myelodysplastic syndrome

There have been 22 reported cases of Behçet disease associated with myelodysplastic syndrome. The majority of cases belong to incomplete types of Behçet disease and the refractory anemia subtype of myelodysplastic syndrome. We describe a case of a 49-year-old woman with Behçet disease who developed myelodysplastic syndrome with abnormal karyotype-trisomy 8. This change was not due to immunosuppressive agents because her Behçet disease was not treated with these drugs before the onset of myelodysplastic syndrome. This is the first report of a case of Behçet disease with pathologic evidence associated with the chronic myelomonocytic leukemia subtype of myelodysplastic syndrome. After reviewing the past case studies, we suggest that patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and trisomy 8 might be prone to have Behçet disease. Furthermore, more intestinal ulcers but with less eye lesions and arthritis have been noted in patients of Behçet disease with myelodysplastic syndrome than in those without myelodysplastic syndrome.