Cerebral aneurysm and Behcet's disease

Introduction.- Mostly venous (95% of all vascular complications), and less frequently arterial (2 to 7% of all cases), vascular complications are commonplace in Behcet's disease (23 to 64% of the patients, depending on the series). Arterial complications are stenosis, occlusions and especially severe due to their unpredictable rupture risk, aneurysms. Intracranial aneurysms associated with Behcet's disease are exceptional. Until now, only ten cases have been published. Exegesis. - We report the case of a 36-year-old patient of Armenian origin in whom the diagnosis of Behcet's disease was made after a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by the rupture of a left superior cerebellar artery aneurysm. The endovascular treatment of the aneurysm was associated with an immunosuppressive treatment consisting of cyclophosphamide, corticoids and colchicine. Within a 6-month period of follow up the evolution has been favorable. This is the first published case report of Behcet's disease associated with an aneurysm of the posterior circulation treated endovascularly. A review of the literature is also included. Conclusion. - Intracranial aneurysms are an exceptional but nevertheless severe localization of vascular complications in Behcet's disease. As in all other arterial lesions, recurrences are frequent. The treatment involves surgical or endovascular treatment that should be associated with corticoids and immunosuppressive therapy. Colchicine is useful for the prevention of relapses. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.