Cardiac findings in Behcet's patients

Behcet's disease is a chronic multi-system inflammatory disorder and the severity and clinical manifestations of Behcet's patients may show geographic variation. We aimed to detect the cardiac findings in 30 Behcet's patients and compare them with the normal population (n = 29). We used color-doppler echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography in combination. We calculated manually QT intervals and QT dispersion (QTd) from twelve-lead ECG recordings. There was no E/A inversion and coronary ischemia in all patients or control group. The E velocity difference between groups was not significant. The mean A velocity was significantly lower in Behcet's patients than normal group. The mean DT was 154.4 +/- 5.8 msec in Behcet's patients and 122.59 +/- 0.96 msec in control group (P < 0.0001). The mean IVRT was 75.66 +/- 1.36 msec in Behcet's patients and 69.1 +/- 0.55 msec in control group (P < 0.0001). There was no QTc time difference between the Behcet's patients and the control group. The mean QT dispersion (QTd) interval was 45.46 +/- 2.65 msec in Behcet's patients and 31.83 +/- 1.23 msec in control group (P < 0.0001). Atrial septal aneurysm, mitral valve prolapse and insufficiency, tricuspid valve insufficieny, and pulmonary hypertension frequencies in Behcet's patients were significantly higher than in the control group. We concluded that Behcet's cardiac involvement may effect cardiac structure and cause diastolic dysfunction, electrical instability and structural abnormalities. We also concluded that cardiac involvement in Behcet's disease may be specific for this geographic area.