Further manifestations of Behçet's syndrome

Behçet originally described a syndrome of iritis and anal and vaginal ulcerations. Many other manifestations of this disease have since been added, including rarely esophageal and bronchial ulceration. The authors report the case of a 65-year-old woman who had a 40-year history of oral and genital ulcers associated with arthritis, thrombosis of the left subclavian artery, asthma and esophageal ulceration. Her esophageal and respiratory symptoms were dominant. In the esophagus, despite effective control of reflux, she continues to have ulceration and secondary stricture requiring intermittent dilatation. When the stricture is tight, aspiration of food occurs, aggravating her asthma. The radiologic, endoscopic and manometric features of her esophageal disorder are described.