findings of carotid artery color doppler ultrasonography in patients with behcet disease

background the behcet disease is a multisystemic disease with involvement of vessels. objectives our aim is to evaluate the frequency of carotid artery disease in asymptomatic carotid artery involvement in patients with behcet disease and compare the results with a control group. patients and methods fifty patients with behcet disease who were asymptomatic for any vascular involvement and 50 healthy volunteers participated in this study. we compared intima–media thickness (that is measured manually) and plaques in carotid arteries. results mean intima–media thickness in the patient group was 0.562 ± 0.133 mm in the right and 0.566 ± 0.140 in the left common carotid artery. in the control group, mean intima–media thickness was 0.526 ± 0.127 in the right and 0.500 ± 0.105 in the left common carotid artery. the only significant difference between groups was the larger intima–media thickness of the left common carotid artery in the patients (p = 0.009). no plaque was seen in the carotid arteries of the control group. conclusions behcet disease may be associated with subtle increased intima–media thickness in the carotid artery, so it can be a predisposing factor for atherosclerotic arterial disease.