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• First Description
• Who gets Microscopic Polyangiitis (the “typical” patients)?
• Classic symptoms of Microscopic Polyangiitis
• Forms of vasculitis similar to Microscopic Polyangiitis
• What causes Microscopic Polyangiitis?
• How is Microscopic Polyangiitis diagnosed?
• Treatment and Course of Microscopic Polyangiitis

First Description

The first description of a patient with the illness now known as microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) appeared in the European literature in the 1920s. The concept of this disease as a condition that is separate from polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) and other forms of vasculitis did not begin to take root in medical thinking, however, until the late 1940s. Even today, some confusing terms for MPA (e.g., “microscopic poly arteritis nodosa ” rather than “microscopic poly angiitis ”) persist in the medical literature. Confusion regarding the proper nomenclature of this disease led to references to “microscopic polyarteritis nodosa” and “hypersensitivity vasculitis” for many years. In 1994, The Chapel Hill Consensus Conference recognized MPA as its own entity, distinguishing it in a classification scheme clearly from PAN, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA, formerly Wegener’s), cutaneous leukocytoclastic angiitis (CLA), and other diseases with which MPA has been confused with through the years.

Much of the explanation for the difficulty in separating MPA from other forms of vasculitis has stemmed from the numerous areas of overlap of MPA with other diseases. MPA, PAN, GPA, and CLA  and other disorders all share a variety of features but possess sufficient differences as to justify separate classifications.

Who gets Microscopic Polyangiitis? A typical patient

MPA can affect individuals from all ethnic backgrounds and any age group. In the United States, the typical MPA patient is a middle-aged white male or female, but many exceptions to this exist. The disease may occur in people of all ages, both genders, and all ethnic backgrounds.

Classic symptoms of Microscopic Polyangiitis

Many signs and symptoms are associated with MPA. This disease can affect many of the body’s organ systems including (but not limited to) the kidneys, nervous system (particularly the peripheral nerves, as opposed to the brain or spinal cord), skin, and lungs. In addition, generalized symptoms such as fever and weight loss are very common.

The FIVE most common clinical manifestations of MPA are:

1. Kidney inflammation (~ 80% of patients).
2. Weight loss (> 70%).
3. Skin lesions (> 60%).
4. Nerve damage (60%).
5. Fevers (55%).

Kidney Inflammation

Inflammation in the kidneys, known as glomerulonephritis, causes blood and protein loss through the urine. This process can occur either slowly or very rapidly in the course of the disease. Patients with kidney inflammation may experience fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelling of the legs.

The image below is from a urinalysis of a patient with kidney inflammation. When MPA is active, red blood cells will form a clump or “cast” (bracketed in white) within the tubules of inflamed kidneys. These “casts” pass through the renal system and may be viewed under the microscope in a patient’s urine.

Constitutional Symptoms

Weight loss, fevers, fatigue, and malaise are part of a collection of complaints regarded as “constitutional” symptoms. Constitutional complaints are a common finding in patients with MPA, because the disorder is a systemic disease confining itself generally not to one specific organ system but rather broadly affecting a patient’s “constitution”.

Skin lesions

Skin lesions in MPA, as in other forms of vasculitis that involve the skin, can erupt on various areas of the body. The lesions tend to favor the “dependent” areas of the body, specifically the feet, lower legs and, in bed-ridden patients, the buttocks. The skin findings of cutaneous MPA include purplish bumps and spots pictured below (palpable purpura).

These areas range in size from several millimeters in diameter to coalescent lesions that are even larger. Skin findings in MPA may also include small flesh-colored bumps (papules); small-to-medium sized blisters (vesiculobullous lesions); or as small areas of bleeding under the nails that look like splinters (pictured below), hence the name splinter hemorrhages.

Peripheral nervous system

Damage to peripheral nerves (i.e., nerves to the hands and feet, arms and legs) results from inflammation of the blood vessels that supply the nerves with nutrients. Inflammation in these blood vessels deprives the nerves of their nutrients, leading to nerve infarction (tissue death). Multiple nerve involvement that is characteristic of vasculitis is known as “mononeuritis multiplex”. This condition is frequently associated with wrist or foot drop: the inability to extend the hand “backwards” at the wrist or to flex the foot upward toward the head at the ankle joint. If the condition is caused by nerve deterioration associated with vasculitis, unfortunately, surgery is not a treatment option due to the nerve infarcton (tissue death).

Neurologic symptoms resulting from peripheral nerve damage may also include numbness or tingling in the arm, hand, leg, or foot. Over time, muscle wasting (pictured below) that is secondary to the nerve damage may result from damage caused by vasculitis.

Pictured:

The hand on the left (the patient’s right hand) is normal, displaying normal muscle bulk of the areas between the fingers.  In contrast, the hand on the right (the patient’s left) shows wasting of the muscle in the web space between the thumb and first finger, leading to a hollowed-out, bowl-like appearance of that area.  The consequence of this muscle wasting is that the patient is unable to grasp objects between his thumb and fingers (i.e., has a weak pinch) and his hand grip is weak.

Lungs

Lung involvement can be a dramatic and life-threatening manifestation of MPA. When lung disease takes the form alveolar hemorrhage – bleeding from the small capillaries that are in contact with the lungs’ microscopic air sacs – the condition may quickly pose a threat to the patient’s respiratory status (and therefore to the patient’s life). Alveolar hemorrhage (pictured below), which is frequently heralded by the coughing up of blood, occurs in approximately 12% of patients with MPA .

Another common lung manifestation of MPA is the development of non-specific inflammatory infiltrates, identifiable on chext x-rays or computed tomography (CT scans) of the lung.

Eyes, Muscles, and Joints

Organs that also merit mention in discussions of MPA include the eyes, muscles, and joints. Intermittent irritation of the eye (resembling “pinkeye”) that is caused by either conjunctivitis or episcleritis may be an early disease manifestation or a sign of a disease flare. Occasionally other types of inflammation (e.g., uveitis) are also observed in MPA. Muscle or joint pains (known to clinicians as “myalgias” or “arthralgias”, respectively) are common complaints in MPA, generally accompanying the types of constitutional symptoms mentioned above. Arthritis (inflammation of the joints accompanied by swelling) can also be observed in MPA. Joint complaints in MPA and related forms of vasculitis tend to migrate from one joint to another – one day involving the left ankle, the next day the right wrist, the third day a shoulder, for example.

Forms of vasculitis similar to Microscopic Polyangiitis

The similarities and differences between MPA, GPA, and PAN are highlighted in the table below.

	MPA	GPA	PAN
BLOOD VESSEL SIZE	Small to Medium	Small to Medium	Medium
BLOOD VESSEL TYPE	Arterioles to venules, And sometimes Arteries and veins	Arterioles to venules, And sometimes Arteries and veins	Muscular Arteries
GRANULOMATOUS INFLAMMATION	NO	YES	NO
LUNG SYMPTOMS	YES1	YES1	NO
GLOMERULONEPHRITIS	YES	YES	NO
RENAL HYPERTENSION	NO	NO	YES
MONONEURITIS MULTIPLEX	COMMON	OCCASIONAL	COMMON
SKIN LESIONS	YES2	YES2	YES2
GI SYMPTOMS	NO	NO	YES3
EYE SYMPTOMS	YES4	YES4	NO
ANCA-POSITIVITY	75%	65-90%	NO
CONSTITUTIONALSYMPTOMS	YES5	YES5	YES5
NECROTIZING TISSUE	YES	YES	YES
MICROANEURYSMS	RARELY	RARELY	TYPICAL

¹ Pulmonary capillaritis in MPA and nodules or cavitary lesions in WG

²MPA can have small blood vessel skin lesions as mentioned above, similar to GPA or medium blood vessel lesions similar to PAN (livedo reticularis, nodules, ulcers, and digital gangrene)

³Stomach pain after meals

⁴MPA eye complications are typically milder than those of GPA, but serious

ocular problems including necrotizing scleritis can occur

⁵Constitutional symptoms include weight loss, fevers, joint and muscle aches, and malaise.

What Causes Microscopic Polyangiitis?

The cause of MPA is not known. However, enough is known about a few types of vasculitides that allow us to describe in general terms how MPA affects the body. MPA is clearly a disorder that is mediated by the immune system; the precise events leading to the immune system dysfunction (hyperactivity), however, remain unclear. Many elements of the immune system are involved in this process: neutrophils, macrophages, T and B lymphocytes, antibodies, and many, many others.

Because MPA is often associated with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), antibodies directed against certain constituents of white blood cells (WBCs), the disease is often termed an “ANCA-associated vasculitis”, or AAV. ANCA, discovered in 1982, act against certain specific (and naturally occurring) enzymes in the body residing within the neutrophils and the macrophages, all of which are members of the WBC family. The result of the interactions of ANCA with their target proteins is an increase in the destruction of WBCs at the sites of disease and the release of white blood cell enzymes within blood vessel walls, causing the damage to blood vessels. In MPA, the ANCA are directed generally against to specific proteins: myeloperoxidase (MPO) and proteinase 3 (PR3).

How is Microscopic Polyangiitis diagnosed?

Blood is taken to detect any ANCA levels, if MPA is suspected. In addition, an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR or “sed rate”) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are usually ordered. Both of these tests are elevated in many different types of inflammation and are not specific to MPA or any particular disease. The ESR and CRP, known as “acute phase reactants”, are often sensitive indicators of the presence of active disease. In and of themselves, however, elevations in acute phase reactants are not sufficient to justify additional treatment.

A carefully analyzed urine specimen should be obtained at the initial visit (and every follow-up visit!) to maintain vigilance for either the development or the progression of kidney involvement.

A computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest may also be performed to detect the presence of lung involvement. A tissue biopsy may be needed to make the diagnosis of MPA, and is taken from an organ that seems to be involved at the time. Sometimes an electromyography/nerve conduction (EMG/NCV) study may need to be done to identify a site for biopsy or to detect findings consistent with a mononeuritis multiplex (see classic symptoms section above). Tissues that might be biopsied are kidney, skin, nerve, muscle, and lung.

Pictured: a biopsy of the gastrocnemius muscle, performed in a 69 year–old man with microscopic polyangiitis. A blood vessel within the muscle shows an intense inflammatory infiltrate with destruction of the blood vessel wall, confirming the diagnosis of vasculitis.

Treatment and Course of Microscopic Polyangiitis

A steroid (usually prednisone) in combination with a cyclophosphamide (CYC) or rituximab is typically the first combination of medications to be prescribed.  After control of the disease – usually around 4 – 6 months of treatment maintenance therapy will be used to keep the disease in remission. This will vary between patients. Prednisone may be discontinued after approximately 6 months.

• First Description
• Who gets Buerger’s Disease (the “typical” patients)?
• Classic symptoms of Buerger’s Disease
• What causes Buerger’s Disease?
• How is Buerger’s Disease diagnosed?
• Treatment and Course of Buerger’s Disease

First Description

This disease was first reported by Buerger in 1908, who described a disease in which the characteristic pathologic findings — acute inflammation and thrombosis (clotting) of arteries and veins — affected the hands and feet. Another name for Buerger’s Disease is thromboangiitis obliterans.

Who gets Buerger’s Disease (the “typical” patient)?

The classic Buerger’s Disease patient is a young male (e.g., 20–40 years old) who is a heavy cigarette smoker. More recently, however, a higher percentage of women and people over the age of 50 have been recognized to have this disease. Buerger’s disease is most common in the Orient, Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East, but appears to be rare among African–Americans.

Classic symptoms and signs of Buerger’s Disease

The initial symptoms of Buerger’s Disease often include claudication (pain induced by insufficient blood flow during exercise) in the feet and/or hands, or pain in these areas at rest. The pain typically begins in the extremities but may radiate to other (more central) parts of the body. Other signs and symptoms of this disease may include numbness and/or tingling in the limbs and Raynaud’s phenomenon (a condition in which the distal extremities — fingers, toes, hands, feet — turn white upon exposure to cold). Skin ulcerations and gangrene (pictured below) of the digits (fingers and toes) are common in Buerger’s disease. Pain may be very intense in the affected regions.

An angiogram demonstrating lack of blood flow to vessels of the hand (figure below). This decreased blood flow (“ischemia”) led to ulcers of the fingers and severe pain.

An abnormal result from an angiogram of the hand (figure below).

Despite the severity of ischemia (lack of blood flow) to the distal extremities that occurs in Buerger’s, the disease does not involve other organs, unlike many other forms of vasculitis. Even as ulcers and gangrene develop in the digits, organs such as the lung, kidneys, brain, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract remain unaffected. The reasons for the confinement to the extremities and sparing of other organs are not known.

What Causes Buerger’s Disease?

The association of Buerger’s Disease with tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, cannot be overemphasized. Most patients with Buerger’s are heavy smokers, but some cases occur in patients who smoke “moderately”; others have been reported in users of smokeless tobacco. It has been postulated that Buerger’s Disease is an “autoimmune” reaction (one in which the body’s immune system attacks the body’s own tissues) triggered by some constituent of tobacco.

Pictured below, are a patient’s fingertips that have developed gangrene. This is a very painful condition which sometimes requires amputation of the affected area.

How is Buerger’s diagnosed?

Buerger’s disease can be mimicked by a wide variety of other diseases that cause diminished blood flow to the extremities. These other disorders must be ruled out with an aggressive evaluation, because their treatments differ substantially from that of Buerger’s Disease (for Buerger’s, there is only one treatment known to be effective: complete smoking cessation — see below).

Diseases with which Buerger’s Disease may be confused include atherosclerosis (build–up of cholesterol plaques in the arteries), endocarditis (an infection of the lining of the heart), other types of vasculitis, severe Raynaud’s phenomenon associated with connective tissue disorders (e.g., lupus or scleroderma), clotting disorders of the blood, and others.

It should be noted that other substances, such as marijuana, have also been associated with a vasculitis similar to Buerger’s or polyarteritis nodosa that should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Angiograms of the upper and lower extremities can be helpful in making the diagnosis of Buerger’s disease. In the proper clinical setting, certain angiographic findings are diagnostic of Buerger’s. These findings include a “corkscrew” appearance of arteries that result from vascular damage, particularly the arteries in the region of the wrists and ankles. Angiograms may also show occlusions (blockages) or stenoses (narrowings) in multiple areas of both the arms and legs.

Pictured below on the left is a normal angiogram. On the right, is an abnormal angiogram of an arm demonstrating the classic “corkscrew” appearance of arteries to the hand. The changes are particularly apparent in the blood vessels in the lower right hand portion of the picture (the ulnar artery distribution).

In order to rule out other forms of vasculitis (by excluding involvement of vascular regions atypical for Buerger’s), it is sometimes necessary to perform angiograms of other body regions (e.g., a mesenteric angiogram).

Skin biopsies of affected extremities are rarely performed because of the frequent concern that a biopsy site near an area poorly perfused with blood will not heal well.

Treatment and Course of Buerger’s

It is essential that patients with Buerger’s disease stop smoking immediately and completely. This is the only treatment known to be effective in Buerger’s disease. Patients who continue to smoke are generally the ones who require amputation of fingers and toes.

Despite the clear presence of inflammation in this disorder, anti-inflammatory agents such as steroids have not been shown to be beneficial. Similarly, strategies of anticoagulation (thinning of the blood with aspirin or other agents to prevent clots) have not proven effective. The only way to prevent the progression of the disease is to abstain from all tobacco products.

The term “vasculitis” refers to a group of inflammatory diseases that cause inflammation centered in the wall of blood vessels. This vascular inflammation ultimately leads to damage and dysfunction of the organs that contain the affected vessels. The symptoms of vasculitis depend on the particular blood vessels (and organs) that are involved by the inflammatory process.

As a group, the vasculitis syndromes have the ability to affect nearly every organ in the body. Yet different forms of vasculitis tend to involve blood vessels in specific locations throughout the body. For example, Giant Cell Arteritis typically involves the medium– to large–sized blood vessels supplying the head and neck, but rarely involves the blood vessels of the kidneys. In contrast, Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) frequently involves the kidneys, very often the lungs, and almost always the upper respiratory tract, but rarely blood vessels to the brain.

Different types of vasculitis have characteristic (localized) patterns of blood vessel involvement.  However, vasculitis is often a systemic illness. Thus, patients with vasculitis generally feel sick. They often have fevers, weight loss, fatigue, a rapid pulse, and diffuse aches and pains that are difficult to pinpoint. It has been said that vasculitis is a “hurting disease”, because it is so commonly associated with pain of one type or another: pain from a nerve infarction, pain from insufficient blood to the gastrointestinal tract, pain from skin ulcers. In some cases, however, identifying the source and underlying cause of the pain is extremely challenging. Because vasculitis can involve virtually every organ system in the body, it often masquerades as other diseases, and may be a challenging diagnosis to make.

What organ systems may be affected?

It is important to note that not every organ system will be affected in every patient. The pattern of organ involvement (and symptoms) is unique to the individual, as well as the type of vasculitis (category).

Skin

A variety of rashes, the most classic of which is “palpable purpura” –purplish–red spots, usually found on the legs. These spots can usually be felt by the examiner’s fingertips, hence the descriptor “palpable”.

Joints

Symptoms range from full–blown arthritis to aches in the joints without obvious swelling (arthralgias).

Lungs

Cough (particularly coughing up blood), shortness of breath, a pneumonia–like appearance to a patient’s chest X–ray, lung “infiltrates”, and the development of cavities in the lungs are among the manifestations that may occur in forms of vasculitis with lung involvement.

Kidneys

In contrast to many other organs, inflammation in the kidneys does not hurt or cause other symptoms a patient would notice until renal damage is quite advanced. Instead, evidence of vasculitis involving the kidneys is made by obtaining lab tests, and in many cases a kidney biopsy. Glomerulonephritis is the most common type of kidney damage encountered in vasculitis. This syndrome can cause abnormal lab findings in the urine, including the presence of red blood cells (usually invisible to the naked eye), clumps of red blood cells (known as “casts”, also invisible to the naked eye), and abnormal levels of protein in the urine. If renal involvement is not recognized, renal failure can develop, sometimes leading to the need for dialysis or kidney transplant.

Blood

Vasculitis can cause abnormal findings on blood counts. Anemia (low hematocrit or red blood cell count) is a typical finding in patients with active vasculitis. A slightly elevated white blood cell count may also occur. These findings are very non-specific, meaning that they can occur in many other situations and diseases. Elevated inflammatory markers (erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein) are also frequently identified in patients with active vasculitis.

Sinus, Nose & Ears

The sinuses, nose and ears are common sites of involvement by ANCA-associated vasculitis, including GPA, EGPA and MPA. Symptoms can include chronic sinus congestion and “infections” that persist for longer than they should and require repeated courses of antibiotics; bleeding from the nose; perforations (holes) in the nasal septum; hearing loss; inflammatory fluid in the ears requiring drainage; inflammation in the cartilage of the ears or nose.

Eyes

Brain

Nerve

Peripheral nerves are a relatively common site of vasculitis involvement. Damage to the peripheral nerves can cause shooting pains in the arms and legs, numbness, and asymmetrical weakness (i.e., weakness that involves one side of the body more than the other).

All information contained within the Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center website is intended for educational purposes only. Visitors are encouraged to consult other sources and confirm the information contained within this site. Consumers should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they may have read on this website.

• First Description
• Who gets EGPA (the “typical” patients)?
• Classic symptoms of EGPA
• What causes EGPA?
• How is EGPA diagnosed?
• Treatment and Course of EGPA

First Description

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGP), formerly known as the Churg-Strauss Syndrome , is a systemic vasculitis. This disease was first described in 1951 by Dr. Jacob Churg and Dr. Lotte Strauss as a syndrome consisting of “asthma, eosinophilia [an excessive number of eosinophils in the blood], fever, and accompanying vasculitis of various organ systems”. EGPA shares many of the clinical and pathological features of polyarteritis nodosa (“PAN”, another type of vasculitis) and granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). However, Drs. Churg and Strauss discovered that the presence of granulomas as well as the abundance of eosinophils distinguished this disease from PAN and GPA.

Who gets EGPA (the “typical” patient)?

The typical patient with EGPA is a middle aged individual with a history of new-onset or newly-worsened asthma. The distribution of the disease among males and females is approximately equal.

Classic symptoms and signs of EGPA

Asthma is one of the cardinal features of EGPA. Asthma symptoms may begin long before the onset of vasculitis – e.g., many years before any other symptoms of EGPA arise, and long before the diagnosis of EGPA is made. Other early symptoms/signs include nasal polyps and allergic rhinitis.

The next phase of the disease is often marked by eosinophilia, the finding of an excessive number of eosinophils in the blood or in tissues. An eosinophil is one subtypes of white blood cell. Normally, eosinophils comprise 5% or less of the total white blood cell count. In EGPA, the percentage of eosinophils may reach as high as 60%. In the picture below, the eosinophils are shown by the dark pink stain.

The third phase of the illness is a vasculitis, which involves the skin, lungs, nerves, kidneys, and other organs. Particular mention should be made of the frequent devastating involvement of the nerves (called mononeuritis multiplex), which produces severe tingling, numbess, shooting pains, and severe muscle wasting/power loss in the hands or feet. The list below contains the organs commonly involved by EGPA and the specific disease manifestation(s) in each organ.

• Nose
• Lung
• Skin
• Kidney
• Gastrointestinal
• Heart
• Nerve

Nose

• Sinusitis, including allergic rhinitis
• Nasal polyps

Lung

• Pulmonary infiltrates (only one-third of all patients)
• Bleeding into the lungs (occasionally)
• Diffuse interstitial lung disease (rarely)

Skin

• Rashes
• Palpable purpura
• Nodules (above or below the skin), often at sites of pressure, such as the elbows

Kidney

• Glomerulonephritis (inflammation in the small units of the kidney that filter blood)
• Hypertension

Gastrointestinal

• Lesions (vasculitic) are occasionally found in the GI tract
• Granuloma sometimes found in spleen

Heart

• Vasculitis lesions in heart, can lead to congestive heart failure or a heart attack

Nerve

• Peripheral nerve involvement including pain, numbness, or tingling in extremities (neuropathy/mononeuritis multiplex)

What causes EGPA?

The cause of EGPA is unknown but is probably multi-factorial. Genetics may play a small role in the disease, but EGPA is almost never seen in two members of the same family. Environmental factors such as exposure to industrial solvents may play a role in susceptibility to this disease, but this is largely speculative. Infections may be the inciting event(s), but to date there is no definitive evidence of this.

How is EGPA Diagnosed?

Among all of the vasculitides, asthma is a distinctive feature of EGPA alone. However, not all patients with asthma have vasculitis – only a tiny minority do, in fact. It is the specific combination of symptoms and signs, the pattern of organ involvement, and the presence of certain abnormal blood tests (eosinophilia, in particular) that help the doctor make the diagnosis. In addition to a detailed history and physical examination, blood tests, chest X-rays and other types of imaging studies, nerve conduction tests, and tissue biopsies (e.g., of lung, skin, or nerve) may be performed to help diagnose EGPA.

The following features are consistent with a diagnosis of GPA:

1. asthma
2. eosinophilia [>10% on differential WBC count]
3. mononeuropathy
4. transient pulmonary infiltrates on chest X-rays
5. paranasal sinus abnormalities
6. biopsy containing a blood vessel with extravascular eosinophils.

Treatment and Course of EGPA

EGPA usually responds to prednisone. Initially, high doses of oral prednisone are used in an attempt to get the disease into remission as quickly as possibly (e.g., using oral prednisone 40-60 mg/day). After the first month or so, this high dose of prednisone is gradually tapered down over the ensuing months. Other immunosuppressive drugs, such as azathioprine, cellcept, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, or rituximab may be used in addition to prednisone. High doses of intravenous steroids (usually methylprednisolone) maybe useful for those patients with severe disease or for those who are unresponsive to the combination of oral prednisone used with other immunosuppressive medications.

Prior to the advent of prednisone, EGPA was often a fatal disease. The majority of patients died from rampant, uncontrolled disease. With present therapy, constitutional symptoms begin to resolve quite quickly, with gradual improvement in cardiac and renal function, as well as improvement in the pain that results from peripheral nerve involvement. The course of therapy can last for 1 to 2 years, although the length and type of treatment depend on the severity of disease and the organs involved. The patient’s response to treatment and the continuation of disease control during lowering of the prednisone dose are the primary determinants of how long therapy is continued. Laboratory monitoring of blood tests is very helpful in gauging the activity of disease. Some of the most useful laboratory tests are the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the eosinophil count.

• First Description
• Who gets Behcet’s Disease (the “typical” patients)?
• Classic symptoms of Behcet’s Disease
• What causes Behcet’s Disease?
• How is Behcet’s Disease diagnosed?
• Treatment and Course of Behcet’s Disease
• What’s new in Behcet’s Disease?

First Description

In the 1930’s, a Turkish dermatologist, Hulusi Behcet, noted the triad of aphthous oral ulcers, genital lesions, and recurrent eye inflammation, and became the first physician to describe the disease in modern times. Another name for Behcet’s Disease is Behcet’s syndrome.

Who gets Behcet’s Disease (the “typical” patient)?

Behcet’s disease is most common along the “Old Silk Route,” which spans the region from Japan and China in the Far East to the Mediterranean Sea, including countries such as Turkey and Iran. Although the disease is rare in the United States, sporadic cases do occur in patients who would not appear to be at risk because of their ethnic backgrounds (e.g., in Caucasians or African–Americans). The disease is not rare in regions along the Old Silk Route, but the disease’s epidemiology is not well understood. In Japan, Behcet’s disease ranks as a leading cause of blindness. Below is a magnetic resonance image (MRI) study of a Behcet’s patient demonstrating central nervous system involvement (white matter changes in the pons).

Classic symptoms and signs of Behcet’s Disease

Behcet’s disease is virtually unparalleled among the vasculitides in its ability to involve blood vessels of nearly all sizes and types, ranging from small arteries to large ones, and involving veins too. Because of the diversity of blood vessels it affects, manifestations of Behcet’s may occur at many sites throughout the body. However, the disease has a predilection for certain organs and tissues; these are described below.

• Eye
• Mouth
• Skin
• Lungs
• Joints
• Brain
• Genitals
• Gastrointestinal Tract

Eye

• Behcet’s may cause either anterior uveitis (inflammation in the front of the eye) or posterior uveitis (inflammation in the back of the eye), and sometimes causes both at the same time.
• Anterior uveitis results in pain, blurry vision, light sensitivity, tearing, or redness of the eye.
• Posterior uveitis may be more dangerous and vision–threatening because it often causes fewer symptoms while damaging a crucial part of the eye — the retina.

(top of section)

Mouth

• Painful sores in the mouth called “aphthous ulcers”(pictured below). These are very similar in appearance to ulcers that frequently occur in the general population, usually as a result of minor trauma. In Behcet’s, however, the lesions are more numerous, more frequent, and often larger and more painful. Aphthous ulcers can be found on the lips, tongue, and inside of the cheek. Aphthous ulcers may occur singly or in clusters, but occur in virtually all patients with Behcet’s.

Skin

• Pustular skin lesions that resemble acne, but can occur nearly anywhere on the body. This rash is sometimes called “folliculitis”.
• Skin lesions called erythema nodosum: red, tender nodules that usually occur on the legs and ankles but also appear sometimes on the face, neck, or arms. Unlike erythema nodosum associated with other diseases (which heal without scars), the lesions of Behcet’s disease frequently ulcerate.

Lungs

• Aneurysms (outpouchings of blood vessel walls, caused by inflammation) of arteries in the lung, rupture of which may lead to massive lung hemorrhage.

Joints

• Arthritis or “arthralgias” (pain in the joints not accompanied by joint swelling).

Brain

• Central nervous system involvement is one of the most dangerous manifestations of Behcet’s. The disease tends to involve the “white matter” portion of the brain and brainstem, and may lead to headaches, confusion, strokes, personality changes, and (rarely) dementia. Behcet’s may also involve the protective layers around the brain (the meninges), leading to meningitis. Because the meningitis of Behcet’s disease is not associated with any known infection, it is often referred to as “aseptic” meningitis.

Genitals

• Male — painful genital lesions that form on the scrotum, similar to oral lesions, but deeper.
• Female — painful genital ulcers that develop on the vulva.

Gastrointestinal

• Ulcerations may occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus. The terminal ileum and cecum are common sites. Involvement of the GI tract by Behcet’s may be difficult to distinguish from inflammatory bowel disease (such as Crohn’s disease).

Blood Vessels

• Clots can occur in veins in any site, most often including veins in the lower extremity (superficial or deep venous thrombosis).
• Inflammation in arteries can occur as well, such as the pulmonary or abdominal arteries, sometimes causing obstruction of the vessel (thrombosis).

What causes Behcet’s Disease?

Behcet’s is one of the few forms of vasculitis in which there is a known genetic predisposition. The presence of the gene HLA–B51 is a risk factor for this disease. However, it must be emphasized that presence of the gene in and of itself is not enough to cause Behcet’s: many people possess the gene, but relatively few develop Behcet’s. Despite the predisposition to Behcet’s conferred by HLA–B51, familial cases are not the rule, constituting only about 5% of cases. Thus, it is believed that other factors (perhaps more than one) play a role. Possibilities include infections and other environmental exposures.

How is Behcet’s Disease Diagnosed?

There is not one specific test to diagnose Behcet’s. Rather the diagnosis is based on the occurrence of symptoms and signs that are compatible with the disease. The presence of certain features that are particularly characteristic (e.g., oral or genital ulcerations), elimination of other possible causes of the patient’s symptoms, and if possible, proof of vasculitis by biopsy of an involved organ would together support a diagnosis of Behcet’s.

A positive pathergy test can be supportive of the diagnosis of Behcet’s but is not diagnostic by itself of the condition. A pathergy test is a simple test in which the forearm is pricked with a small, sterile needle. Occurrence of a small red bump or pustule at the site of needle insertion constitutes a positive test. Please note, that although a positive pathergy test is helpful in the diagnosis of Behcet’s, only a minority of Behcet’s patients demonstrate the pathergy phenomenon (i.e., have positive tests). Patients from the Mediterranean region are more likely to demonstrate pathergy. In addition, other conditions can occasionally result in positive pathergy tests, so the test is not 100% specific.

Pictured below is an example of the pathergy test; 1) taken at the time when the patient was “stuck” with the sterile needle; 2) shows the area immediately after the stick; 3) & 4) show the area one day and two days after the needle stick, respectively.

Treatment and Course of Behcet’s Disease

For disease that is confined to mucocutaneous regions (mouth, genitals, and skin), topical steroids and non–immunosuppressive medications such as colchicine or dapsone may be effective. Apremilast (Otezla) is now FDA-approved for treatment of oral ulcers in Behcet’s. Moderate doses of systemic corticosteroids are also frequently required for disease exacerbations. Some patients require chronic, low doses of prednisone or conventional immunosuppressives such as (azathioprine) to keep the disease under control.

In the event of serious end–organ involvement such as eye or central nervous system disease, both high doses of prednisone and some other form of immunosuppressive treatment are usually necessary. Immunosuppressive agents used in the treatment of Behcet’s include azathioprine, cyclosporine, cyclophosphamide, and TNF-alpha inhibitors (infliximab, adalimumuab). Cyclophosphamide is generally used in life-threatening disease, such as central nervous system involvement. Blood clots can be another manifestation of Behcet’s, and in some scenarios blood thinners may be used in treatment.