Abstract

Behçet's disease is a multisystem vasculitis of unknown etiology. Thoracic lesions are dominated by venous and arterial diseases. We identified 21 cases with a hospital prevalence of Behçet's disease between January 1997 and June 2012. The prevalence was of 0.2%. Hemoptysis was the most common symptom and superior vena cava syndrome was the most common sign. Chest Computerized Tomography (CT) scan had confirmed thrombosis of the superior vena cava in 15 patients, and the pulmonary artery aneurysms in 6 patients, three of them were complicated by thrombosis. Patients followed for thrombosis of the superior vena cava received anticoagulant therapy, corticosteroid and immunosuppressive. The combination of corticosteroids, colchicine and immunosuppressive drugs was prescribed in patients with pulmonary aneurysms before surgical treatment. The authors concluded through this study for the rarity and severity of thoracic manifestations of Behçet's disease. Therapeutic means are limited and the prognosis is poor. Thoracic lesions of Behçet's disease are not rare in Mediterranean countries, diagnosis is easy with CT scan, but there’s a late in treatment. In these cases, prognosis is conditioned by thoracic lesions.