ABSTRACT
A prospective study of arthritis was performed in 47 patients with Behçet's disease followed up over a 47-month period (mean 19.25 months, SD 14.09). These patients had a total of 80 episodes of arthritis, which were analysed for joint distribution and symmetry, in 56 of which the duration could also be determined. Attacks were oligoarticular, affecting up to 4 joints per patient, 54 (68%) being monoarticular. Knees, ankles, and wrists were the most commonly involved joints. Involvement of spinal, shoulder, hip, and sacroiliac joints was rare. The arthritis was usually not deforming and subacute; 82% (46/56) of the attacks lasted for 2 months or less and 18% (10/56) for between 3 months and 4 years. The ESR was moderately elevated during the attacks. In 32 specimens the synovial fluid was inflammatory (cell count 14.7 +/- 10.1 x 10(9)/l), but in 19 (59%) a good mucin clot formed. Synovial biopsy in 12 patients revealed superficial ulceration, paucity of plasma cells, and in 5 instances lymphoid follicle formation.
Subject(s)
Arthritis/complications , Behcet Syndrome/complications , HLA-B Antigens , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Arthritis/diagnostic imaging , Arthritis/physiopathology , Arthrography , Behcet Syndrome/physiopathology , Blood Sedimentation , Female , HLA Antigens/analysis , Humans , Joints/physiopathology , Male , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Synovial Fluid/cytologySubject(s)
HLA Antigens/analysis , Uveitis/immunology , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , HLA-B27 Antigen , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Skin Tests , TurkeyABSTRACT
It has been suggested that certain tissue types are associated with different clinical manifestations of Behçet's disease in Japan and England. Regional differences in the associations between HLA antigens and Behçet's disease have been established. We tissue type 119 patients with Behçet's disease in Istanbul and attempted to correlate various clinical manifestations with HLA antigens. The frequency of only one tissue antigen, HLA-B5, was found to be increased in these series. HLA-B5 was present in 94 of 119 patients (77%) compared to 89 of 268 controls (33%), P less than 0.0001, ARR = 6.79. Age of onset, sex, incidences of ocular disease, arthritis, thrombophlebitis and erythema nodosum did not show any positive or negative associations with any of the alleles tested.