Transcranial Doppler detection of microembolic signals in patients with Behcet's disease

We evaluated the prevalence of microembolic signals (MES) in patients with Behcet's disease (BD). We also attempted to determine the frequency of MES in ED patients with or without neurological involvement. This study enrolle d 55 patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria of International Study Gro up for BD. Bilateral transcranial Doppler ultrasound of the middle cerebral arteries was performed. MES were identified based on the criteria of Inter national Consensus group on Microembolus Detection. Patients with BD were d ivided into two groups in respect of the presence of neurological involveme nt (n = 10) or not (n = 45), and counts of MES in the two were compared wit h each other and with normal subjects. We found MES in 16 patients (29%) wi th BD. The frequency was higher in patients with neurological involvement t han in those without (80% vs. 17%, P < 0.001). In patients with neurologica l involvement there was a positive correlation in regression analysis betwe en the prevalence of MES and disease duration (P = 0.025). There was a sign ificantly higher prevalence of MES in BD patients than in control subjects. The frequency of MES was higher in patients with neurological involvement than in those without. TCD detection of MES may allow the recognition of su bset of patients at high risk for the appearance of neurological involvemen t.