PULMONARY-ARTERY ANEURYSM IN PATIENTS WITH BEHCETS-SYNDROME - A REPORT OF 6 CASES

Six cases of pulmonary artery aneurysm in patients with Behcet's disea se are reported. All the patients were males and ages ranged from 17 t o 33 years, the presenting symptom was recurrent hemoptysis in five ca ses; the clinical interview and physical evaluation found evidence of Behcet's syndrome in all the patients. Chest films showed one to five round densities in the lungs near the hilua; five patients had densiti es in both lungs. These densities were identified as aneurysms upon co mputed tomography with vascular opacification in five cases; two patie nts had digitized pulmonary angiography. As concerns management, in ad dition to the maintenance treatment of Behcet's syndrome, surgical rem oval of the aneurysms was scheduled in two patients; removal of the ri ght lung was performed in one of these patients, whereas in the other surgery was finally not performed because the size of the density decr eased. In one patient, massive fatal hemoptysis occurred before comple tion of the evaluation and therapy. These six cases clearly demonstrat e the severity of pulmonary artery aneurysms in Behcet's syndrome. Thi s manifestation is one of the few Behcet's syndrome- related events wh ich can lead to death, by causing massive bleeding. It may raise diffi cult diagnostic problems if the suggestive symptoms of Behcet's syndro me are not routinely looked for.