RESEARCH ARTICLE


Behçet’s Disease as a Model of Venous Thrombosis



Micaela La Regina1, 2, *, Armen Yuri Gasparyan3, Francesco Orlandini2, Domenico Prisco4
1 Department of Internal Medicine, Periodic Fevers Research Centre, Catholic University, Rome, Italy
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Ligurian East Hospital, La Spezia, Italy
3 Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust, Dudley, West Midlands, UK
4 Department of Medical and Surgical Critical Care, University of Florence, Florence, Italy


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Creative Commons License
© La Regina et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Internal Medicine, Periodic Fevers Research Centre, Catholic University, Largo F.Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy; Tel: 0039 338 2393805; Fax: 0039 (0)187 533483; E-mail: micaela.laregina@rm.unicatt.it


Abstract

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology characterized by recurrent oral, genital aphthous ulcerations, uveitis, skin lesions and other multisystem affections associated with vasculitis. Different types of vessels, predominantly veins, can be affected in BD. The frequency of vascular lesions in BD, such as superficial and deep venous thromboses, arterial aneurysms and occlusions, ranges between 7-29%.

In this review, various factors of thrombogenesis in BD, particularly pro- and antithrombotic endothelial and non-endothelial factors, factors of coagulation, platelet activation and rheological changes are presented and discussed from positions of Virchow’s triad of venous thrombosis.

Despite advances in understanding of thrombogenesis in BD, still many issues of diagnosis and targeted preventive and therapeutic measures remain unresolved. Further studies are needed to clarify the pathobiology of BD-related thrombosis and to provide the clinicians with recommendations over the utility, safety and effectiveness of the antithrombotic therapy in BD.

Keywords: Behçet’s disease, Thrombosis, Venous thrombosis, Arterial thrombosis, Vascular diseases, Virchow’s triad..