ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Although the etiology of Behcet's disease is not clarified yet, the vascular endothelial damage and thrombosis are prominent features of the disease. The underlying mechanisms of increased risk of thrombosis in Behcet's disease are not completely understood. It is stated that the changes in blood rheology such as erythrocyte deformability take part in the thrombosis. There are limited numbers of studies with conflicting results about the erythrocyte deformability in Behcet's disease. The previous studies were not limited to the untreated patients with active disease. METHOD: Blood samples were filtered immediately by "Imugard- leukocyte removal filter". After plasma and erythrocytes were separated by centrifugation, 10% erythrocyte suspensions were prepared with isotonic Tris NaCl buffer solution. These erythrocyte suspensions were filtered under gravitational force by "Nucleopore" to determine the filtration time. The filtration times of the erythrocyte and buffer solutions were referred as t1 and t2 respectively. Finally, deformability indices were obtained by dividing the t1 by t2. A decrease in the deformability of the erythrocytes would result in an increase in the filtration time of the erythrocyte suspension and deformability indices. RESULTS: The median deformability indices were 3.090 and 2.170 for patients and control subjects respectively and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: We suggest that the decrease in erythrocyte deformability in Behcet's disease may be related to oxidative damage of erythrocytes and subsequently takes part in the development of thrombosis in Behcet's disease.
Subject(s)
Behcet Syndrome/blood , Behcet Syndrome/complications , Erythrocyte Deformability , Thrombosis/physiopathology , Adult , Age Factors , Behcet Syndrome/physiopathology , Blood Sedimentation , Blood Viscosity , C-Reactive Protein/metabolism , Endothelium, Vascular/pathology , Endothelium, Vascular/physiopathology , Female , Fibrinogen/metabolism , Humans , Male , Probability , Reference Values , Risk Assessment , Severity of Illness Index , Sex Factors , Statistics, Nonparametric , Thrombosis/etiology , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) tends to reoccur frequently, so the therapeutic agent must have a high benefit versus adverse effect ratio for long-term and repetitive uses. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of retreatment with pimecrolimus in SD patients. METHODS: A total of 45 patients who had been treated previously with pimecrolimus 1% cream were retreated with the same agent using the same treatment protocol after the disease reoccurred. The first and the second treatments were compared with regard to disease severity before treatment, complete cure times, remission times and side effects. RESULTS: The median severities of the disease were 5 and 4 before the first and second treatments, respectively. Retreatment of the disease with pimecrolimus resulted in shorter cure and longer remission times. Side effects were seen only on the first day of the retreatment and an increase in erythema was seen in fewer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Retreatment of the recurrence of SD with pimecrolimus as monotherapy is an effective and safe approach in the management of the disease.
