Ucar, H; Karaagac, K; Serdar, OA; Yetgin, ZA; Akturk, Y; Karaagac, EU; Saricaoglu, H
Behcet's syndrome is a chronic, multisystem disorder
characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulceration, skin lesions and uveitis. In addition,
25% of patients develop vascular complications, which may include superficial thrombophlebitis,
deep vein and arterial thrombosis and arterial aneurysm formation. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is
an important factor in determining cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. It is an index of
arterial wall stiffness and inversely related to the arterial distensibility. In this study we
investigated the arterial distensibility in Behcet's Disease (BD) by PWV. We studied 50 patients
with BD and 20 healthy subjects without known cardiovascular disease. Arterial distensibility was
assessed by All patients underwent pulse wave analysis (HDI/Pulse Wave model CR-2000) to
determine large and small vessel compliances. Large arterial elastisite index (LAEI) and small
arterial elastisite index (SAEI) of the radial artery were determined from an internal algorhythm
based on diastolic decay features of the calibrated radial pulse contour using a modified
Windkessel model. The mean ages, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, large
arterial elastisite index (LAE), small arterial elastisite index (SAE) of Behcet's disease and
control subjects were 37 +/- 8.323 and 37 +/- 7.984 years, 125,8 +/- 3 and 124,3 +/- 11.4 mmHg,
68.5 +/- 7.7 and 68.5 +/- 7.7 mmHg, 13.3 +/- 3.6 and 13.6 +/- 3.64 mL/mm Hg X 10, 5.2 +/- 2.43
and 6.01 +/- 2.6 mL/mm Hg X 100 respectively. Differences between all parameters studied were not
found to be statistically significant (p > 0.05). Furthermore, in patients group there were no
significant correlation between disease duration and LAEI(C1) and SAEI(C2) (p=0.267 and p=0.456,
respectively). Eventually, no significant correlation was shown between increase in systemic
involvement, LAEI and SAEI values (p=0.447 and p=0.345, respectively). In this study, it was
shown that Behcet's disease did not change arterial stiffness parameters used as a strong
indicator of atherosclerosis. Further, it was determined that disease duration and increase in
systemic involvement did not alter arterial stiffness parameters.
