Colonoscopic findings in intestinal Behcet's disease

The aims of this study were to investigate the clinical and colonoscopic characteristics of patients with intestinal Behcet's disease and to compare the findings of typical and atypical intestinal Behcet's disease. Ninety-four patients diagnosed as having intestinal Behcet's disease were included. Of these, we considered 42 patients as having complete or incomplete type; these fulfilled the international criteria as "typical," and the other 52 patients were classified as having "atypical" intestinal Behcet's disease. Abdominal pain was the most common symptom (92%), followed by diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding. All of the 22 patients with a history of surgery had ulcers at the anastomotic site. Most of the patients, who had never been operated on, had lesions in the ileocecal area (96%). Sixty-th-ree patients (67%) had a single ulcer. Many (76%) of the ulcers were larger than I cm, and the mean size of the ulcers was 2.9 cm. Most (99%) of the ulcers were round/oval or geographic in shape. Usually ulcers were deep (62%), and their margins discrete (80%). There was no difference in the endoscopic findings of typical and atypical intestinal Behcet's disease. Typical colonoscopic findings in intestinal Behcet's disease were single or a few deep ulcers with discrete margins in the ileocecal area or anastomotic site. Endoscopic characteristics of patients with intestinal involvement in the case of "suspect" or "possible" type of Behcet's disease that lack the systemic manifestations of Behcet's disease were in accord with those in "complete" or "incomplete" types of Behcet's disease, who fulfill the International Study Group for Behcet's Disease criteria.