Intracranial arterial aneurysm complicating Behçet's disease

Abstract

Behçet's disease, a rare condition in central Europe but more common in Turkey where it was originally described, is characterized clinically by the presence of a diagnostic triad of oral and genital aphthous ulcers, meningitis, and relapsing iridocyclitis. Vascular lesions including arterial and venous occlusions, arterial aneurysms and varices are one of the common complications of Behçet's disease occur most commonly in the abdominal aorta, femoral arteries and pulmonary arteries. There have been only four reports of aneurysms of cerebral arteries in the literature. The authors describe a patient with Behçet's disease who suffered secondary subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery 3 years after the initial diagnosis. This case report draws further attention to this rare entity in patients with Behçet's disease.

Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysm Associated With Behcet's Disease-Case Report-

“…Extracranial isolated fusiform or saccular aneurysm formation is well known, but cerebral aneurysms are very rare with only 13 reported cases (Table 1). 1,4,5,7,8,12,13,15,16,23,[25][26][27] Histological confirmation of this association is lacking in the present case, but such pathogenesis is likely to lead to aneurysm formation in intracranial arteries as well as peripheral arteries.…”

“…1,4) Only 10 cases of Behçet's disease associated with cerebral aneurysm have been described in detail, in addition to our case (Table 1). 5,7,8,12,13,15,16,23,25,27) Six patients had multiple aneurysms. 5,7,8,16,23,27) Six patients were treated surgically, 8,13,15,16,23,25,27) and two by endovascular intervention (coil embolization).…”

“…5,7,8,12,13,15,16,23,25,27) Six patients had multiple aneurysms. 5,7,8,16,23,27) Six patients were treated surgically, 8,13,15,16,23,25,27) and two by endovascular intervention (coil embolization). 7,25) Immunosuppressive agents, steroid and colchicine therapy were given to eight patients.…”

“…9,19) Intracranial aneurysms associated with Behçet's disease are extremely rare, with only 13 reported cases. 1,4,5,7,8,12,13,15,16,23,[25][26][27] We present another case of Behçet's disease associated with ruptured middle cerebral artery (MCA) bifurcation aneurysm which was treated by surgical intervention.…”

Coil Embolization of an Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm Associated With Behcet's Disease -Case Report-

“…Almost all cases of aneurysm in patients with Behcet's disease manifested as subarachnoid hemorrhage. 9,13,15,18,23,24) Recently, a case of unruptured aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery was described which disappeared after steroid therapy for 3 days. 11) Our case of aneurysm was first detected as unruptured and was treated by endovascular coiling.…”