A Behcet’s Disease Patient with Right Ventricular Thrombus, Pulmonary Artery Aneurysms, and Deep Vein Thrombosis Complicating Recurrent Pulmonary Thromboembolism
Intracardiac thrombus, pulmonary artery aneurysms, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary thromboembolism are rarely seen symptoms of Behcet’s disease. A 20-year-old female patient was admitted for complaints of cough, fever, palpitations, and chest pain. On the dynamic thorax computed tomograms (CT) obtained because of significantly enlarged hilar structures seen on chest radiograms, aneurysmal dilatation of the pulmonary artery segments bilaterally, chronic thrombus with collapse, and consolidation substances compatible with pulmonary embolism involving both lower lobes have been observed. It is learned that, four years ago, the patient had been diagnosed with Behcet’s disease and received colchicine treatment but not regularly. The patient was hospitalized. On the transthoracic echocardiogram, a thrombosis with a dimension of 4.2?×?1.6?cm was recognized in the right ventricle. On abdomen CT, aneurysmal iliac veins and deep vein thrombus on Doppler ultrasonograms were diagnosed. At the controls after three months of immunosuppressive and anticoagulant therapies, some clinical and radiological improvements were recognized. The patient suspended the treatment for a month and the thrombus recurred. We present our case in order to show the effectiveness of immunosuppressive and anticoagulant therapies and rarely seen pulmonary thromboembolism in recurrent Behcet’s disease. 1. Introduction Behcet’s disease (BD) is a multisystem disorder presenting with recurrent buccal aphthosis, genital ulcer, and uveitis with hypopyon [1]. Pulmonary involvement in Behcet’s disease is rare, occurring in 1 to 7.7% of the patients [2, 3]. Pulmonary artery aneurysms, arterial and venous thrombosis, pulmonary infarction, recurrent pneumonia, bronchiolitis obliterans organised pneumonia, and pleurisy are the main features of pulmonary involvement in Behcet’s disease [4]. Cardiac involvement causes coronary artery disease, recurrent pericarditis, myocardiopathy, and endocardiac abnormalities. Intracardiac thrombus formation is very uncommon [5]. We present a Behcet’s disease patient with intracardiac thrombus, pulmonary artery aneurysms, and deep vein thrombosis complicating recurrent pulmonary embolism. 2. Case Report A twenty-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with complaints of cough, fever, palpitations, and chest pain. It was learned that, four years ago the patient had been diagnosed with Behcet’s disease and received irregular colchicine treatment. During interviews, we learned that, he had recurrent oral and genital ulcers. On examination, there was no
References
[1]
H. Beh?et, “über rezidivierende, apht?se, durch ein virus verursachte gescwüre am mund, auge und an den genitalien,” Dermatologische Wochenschrift, vol. 105, pp. 1152–1157, 1937.
[2]
J. D. O’Duffy, J. A. Carney, and S. Deodhar, “Beh?et’s disease. Report of 10 cases, three with new manifestations,” Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 75, pp. 561–570, 1971.
[3]
F. Erkan, “Pulmonary involvement in Beh?et’s disease,” Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, vol. 5, pp. 314–318, 1999.
[4]
F. Erkan, A. Gül, and E. Tasali, “Pulmonary manifestations of Beh?et’s disease,” Thorax, vol. 56, pp. 572–578, 2001.
[5]
N. Mo?ulko?, I. M. Burgess, and P. W. Bishop, “Intracardiac thrombus in Beh?et’s disease,” Chest, vol. 118, pp. 479–587, 2000.
[6]
A. Tunac?, Y. M. Berkmen, and E. G?kmen, “Thoracic involvement in Beh?et’s disease: pathologic, clinical, and imaging features,” American Journal of Roentgenology, vol. 164, pp. 51–56, 1995.
[7]
M. Tunaci, B. Ozkorkmaz, A. Tunaci, A. Gül, G. Engin, and B. Acuna?, “CT findings of pulmonary artery aneurysms during treatment for Beh?et’s disease,” American Journal of Roentgenology, vol. 172, pp. 729–733, 1999.
[8]
J. M. A. Joong Mo Ahn, J.-G. Im, J. W. Ryoo et al., “Thoracic manifestations of Behcet syndrome: radiographic and CT-findings in nine patients,” Radiology, vol. 194, no. 1, pp. 199–203, 1995.
[9]
Y. Ko?, I. Güllü, G. Akpek, et al., “Vascular involvement in Beh?et’s disease,” The Journal of Rheumatology, vol. 19, pp. 402–410, 1992.
[10]
T. Chajek and M. Fainaru, “Behcet's disease. Report of 41 cases and a review of the literature,” Medicine, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 179–196, 1975.
[11]
V. Hamuryudan, S. Yurdakul, F. Moral, et al., “Pulmonary artery aneurysms in Beh?et’s syndrome: a report of 24 cases,” British Journal of Rheumatology, vol. 33, pp. 48–51, 1994.
[12]
M. H. Houman, I. Ben Ghorbel, I. Khiari Ben Salah, M. Lamloum, M. Ben Ahmed, and M. Miled, “Deep vein thrombosis in Beh?et's disease,” Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. S48–S50, 2001.
[13]
E. S. U?an, G. K?ter, ?. Abado?lu, C. Karl?kaya, S. Ako?lu, and U. Bay?nd?r, “Thoracic manifestations of Beh?et’s disease: reports of the Turkish authors,” Turkish Respiratory Journal, vol. 2, pp. 29–44, 2001.
[14]
A. Kaya, ?. Ertan, ?. U. Gürkan, et al., “Beh?et’s disease with right ventricle thrombus and bilateral pulmonary artery aneurysms. A case report,” Angiology, vol. 55, pp. 573–575, 2004.
[15]
N. Düzgün, C. An?l, F. ?zer, and T. Ac?can, “The disappearence of pulmonary artery aneurysms and intracardiac thrombus with immunosuppressive treatment in a patient with Beh?et’s disease,” Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, vol. 20, supplement 26, pp. 556–557, 2002.
[16]
L. Luo, Y. Ge, Z. Y. Liu, Y. T. Liu, and T. S. Li, “A report of eight cases of Behcet's disease with intracardiac thrombus and literatures review,” Zhonghua Nei Ke Za Zhi, vol. 50, no. 11, pp. 914–917, 2011.