MRI findings of neuro-Behcet’s disease

Neurological manifestations present in 5% to 30% of patients with Behçet’s disease. We studied consecutive patients with relapsing–remitting or progressive neuro-Behcet’s disease who referred from January 2002 to January 2009 to Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz, southern Iran. Sequential MRIs were performed during clinical relapses in patients with relapsing–remitting course or during relentless progression after first referral of patients with progressive course. We reviewed 55 MRIs of 17 patients (ten men and seven women) with age of 36.4 ± 8.1 years at the time of first MRI. Nine (53%) patients had a relapsing–remitting course and eight (47%) had a progressive course. The initial and last follow-up studies had a mean interval of 29.2 months (range, 24 to 84). Of the patients with progressive neuro-Behcet’s disease, 50% had brainstem atrophy and 75% had black holes in their last follow-up MRIs. The respective prevalence rates for those with relapsing–remitting neuro-Behcet’s disease were 0% and 11%. In the total population of patients with neuro-Behcet’s disease, the number of lesions ( p = 0.002) and MRI burden ( p = 0.016) had a significant increase in the last follow-up studies in comparison to the initial studies. Incremental pattern in the number of lesions and MRI burdens in patients with parenchymal neuro-Behcet’s disease in our longitudinal study may imply an ongoing pathologic process.