Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology (CEOG) is published by IMR Press from Volume 47 Issue 1 (2020). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Therapeutic alternatives in Behçet's syndrome
Behçet's Syndrome (BD) is a chronic, relapsing, recurrent systemic vasculitis with an unknown cause. The disease affects all organs of the body concurrently or consecutively. Its various clinical manifestations result from ubiquitous small-vessel vasculitis, which is the underlying pathology. An Italian study has reported an increased association of the extended haplotype B5 l-DR5- DQw3. Without a known etiology BD syndrome has no uniformly acceptable therapy Our study addresses therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of BD, with the systemic use of interferon a-2a., which has antiviral. immunomodulatory, antiproliferative, and antitumoral properties. Ten patients diagnosed with BD were referred from September 2002 to September 2005 to the Department of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Reproduction of the Second University of Naples The International Study Group (ISG) Criteria for Behçet's Disease (27) was applied Patients were treated with oral prednisone; sulfasalazine; clobetasol; and interferon a-2a. Every month all patients had a complete blood count, platelet count, and hver function test.,Biopsies of gemtal ulcerauons identified small vessel vascuhtlS WIth mononuclear cell and lynphocytic infiltrates. HLA-B27 and BS were positive in three subjects. The pathergy test was positive in all patients. Today the therapy is still ongoing, and none of the patients in therapy with our protocol present clinical symptoms of BD or intolerance. Laboratory findings are in a normal range and none have had neurological failure. Our findings may be attributable to less severe disease in a patients, to our smaller number of patients, or to other unknown factors. Nonetheless, these findings remain to be confirmed in a larger number of patients.