IDIVAL, Research Group on Genetic Epidemiology and Atherosclerosis in Systemic Diseases and in Metabolic Bone Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System, Santander, Spain.
IDIVAL, Research Group on Genetic Epidemiology and Atherosclerosis in Systemic Diseases and in Metabolic Bone Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System, Santander, and Department of Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2023 Oct;41(10):2008-2016. doi: 10.55563/clinexprheumatol/qvkhi4. Epub 2023 Mar 2.
To assess vascular involvement at different levels in patients with Behçet's disease (BD).
We conducted an observational study of unselected consecutive patients with BD assessed in a national referral centre. Demographic and clinical variables were collected. Common femoral vein (CFV) intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured with a high-resolution Doppler ultrasound (US). Microvascular involvement was evaluated performing a nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC). Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) were measured in peripheral blood of patients and healthy controls (HC) by flow cytometry.
A total of 42 patients with BD were evaluated. Clinical vascular manifestations were present in 17 of them. Arterial hypertension was associated with a higher frequency of vascular manifestations (p=0.003). The median [IQR] value of the CFV IMT was significantly higher in patients with vascular manifestations (0.65 [0.45-0.82] vs 0.49 [0.39-0.55]; p= 0.028). The NFC examination was abnormal in 54.8% of the patients, being the most common findings: capillary loop dilation (45.2%), mega capillaries (21.4%) and micro haemorrhages (16.7%). A significant increase in EPC frequency was observed in patients with BD when compared with HC (p=0.011).
The assessment of CFV IMT with Doppler US constitutes a useful technique to evaluate clinical vascular involvement in BD patients. Microvascular involvement is not uncommon in BD and can be easily assessed by NFC. Furthermore, EPC may be a useful blood biomarker of the disease.
评估白塞病（BD）患者不同水平的血管受累情况。
我们对在国家转诊中心评估的未经选择的连续 BD 患者进行了观察性研究。收集了人口统计学和临床变量。使用高分辨率多普勒超声（US）测量股总静脉（CFV）内膜-中层厚度（IMT）。通过甲襞毛细血管镜（NFC）评估微血管受累情况。通过流式细胞术测量患者和健康对照者（HC）外周血中的内皮祖细胞（EPC）。
共评估了 42 例 BD 患者。其中 17 例存在临床血管表现。动脉高血压与血管表现的发生频率更高相关（p=0.003）。有血管表现的患者 CFV IMT 的中位数[IQR]值明显更高（0.65 [0.45-0.82] vs 0.49 [0.39-0.55]；p=0.028）。54.8%的患者 NFC 检查异常，最常见的发现是：毛细血管环扩张（45.2%）、巨毛细血管（21.4%）和微出血（16.7%）。与 HC 相比，BD 患者的 EPC 频率明显增加（p=0.011）。
使用多普勒 US 评估 CFV IMT 是评估 BD 患者临床血管受累的有用技术。BD 中微血管受累并不少见，NFC 可轻松评估。此外，EPC 可能是该疾病的有用血液生物标志物。
