Polyarthritis in Behcet's multiple symptom complex.

Behqet's syndrome (pronunciation BWh-chett) is usually regarded as a rare condition which lies in the fields of only three specialties-dermatology, ophthalmology, and gynaecology. The convenient label, triple symptom complex, encourages this, the picture entertained being dominated by the three arresting features-recurrent oral and genital ulceration and relapsing iritis. Our debt to this type of concept is recognized, but if this disorder is to be uncovered more frequently, it has outlived its usefulness. Behqet's syndrome is a protean disorder with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Table I (opposite) indicates the specialties involved, reveals the syndrome's considerable capacity for deception, and offers a ready reference for the features to be looked for once the possibility arises. Although eosinophilia and diabetes mellitus have been reported in this syndrome, they have been omitted from the Table because of their infrequency. Marked eosinophilia has been recorded on only two occasions (Silfverskiold, 1951; Merenlender, Schwartz, and Stafford, 1961). Diabetes mellitus has only once been reported (Fishof, 1960) as developing acutely in this syndrome, and it is tempting to consider it incidental, although this was not the author's view. If the domination of the syndrome by the triad concept is discarded, Table I makes it obvious that the condition frequently enters the diagnostic field and necessitates much careful interrogation and examination.