The Journal of the Korean Rheumatism Association  1999;6(3):277-282

Behcet's Disease with Multiple Ulcers in Esophagus and Terminal Ileum: Report of Two Cases.

Hyun Kyu CHANG 1 ; Yeon Suk KIM ; Wan Soo KIM ; Haingsub R CHUNG ; Seung Mun JUNG

Affiliations

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Keywords

Behcet's disease; Esophageal ulcer

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

Behcet's disease is a chronic polysymptomatic disease of recurrent systemic vasculitis. The etiology remains unclear. This disease affects several organs of the body concurrently or consecutively and sometimes has a serious outcome, depending upon the system involved. Though gastrointestinal symptoms are relatively common in Behcet's disease, ulcerative change of the intestine is infrequent. The most common sites for the intestinal Behcet's disease are terminal ileum and cecum. Only a few literatures report the esophageal ulcers in Behcet's disease. We describe 2 cases of Behcet's disease who have multiple ulcers in esophagus and terminal ileum. Esophageal ulcers have improved with low-dose prednisolone, colchicine and sulfasalazine in these patients.