Doppler Microembolic Signals in Behcet\'s Disease with Nervous System Involvement

Background: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multisystemic inflammatory vasculitis of unknown etiology, and vasculitis being its major pathological feature. Objectives: We studied the prevalence of microembolic signals (MES) in patients with diagnosis Behçet's disease. We also tried to determine the frequency of MES in BD patients with or without neurological involvement. Materials and Methods: This study enrolled 40 patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of International Study Group for BD during 2012 to 2013. Bilateral transcranialDoppler ultrasound of the middle cerebral arteries was performed by multigate method. MES were identified based on the criteria of International Consensus group on Microembolus Detection. Results: We found MES in none of our patients with BD. We measured intima-media thickness in all patients. Conclusion: It seems that in our population core histopathologic phenomenon to be other than MES andvasculiticphenomenonmay be implicated as a pathophysiologic factor for central nervous system involvement.The clarification of this subject needs further investigations on Iranian BD patients.