Long-term outcome after surgical treatment of arterial lesions in Behçet disease

Objective Surgical treatment of arterial lesions associated with Behcet disease (BD) is often complicated by graft occlusion and recurrence of aneurysms. The purpose of this study was to clarify the long-term outcome of surgical intervention for arterial involvement in BD. Methods Ten patients with BD (9 men, 1 woman) who underwent surgical treatment for arterial aneurysms between 1980 and 2004 were included in the study. The age of patients at the first operation ranged from 36 to 69 years (mean, 50.4 ± 9.0 years). The mean period between the onset of BD and that of arterial manifestations was 8.0 ± 5.0 years. We retrospectively reviewed their postoperative courses, including survival, graft occlusion, formation of anastomotic false aneurysms, and the development of aneurysms at different sites. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the chronologic incidence of complications after surgery. Results The mean follow-up period was 133 ± 92 months, ranging from 5 to 285 months. One patient died of rupture of a dissecting aortic aneurysm after undergoing several surgical interventions for multiple aneurysms. There were five graft occlusions among 21 grafts. The cumulative primary graft patency rate in the infrainguinal region was 83.9% at 3 years. Five anastomotic false aneurysms formed among 49 anastomoses between grafts and host arteries. The overall cumulative incidence of formation of anastomotic pseudoaneurysm was 12.9% at 5 and 10 years. All of them formed within 18 months after surgery. Development of new aneurysms in different arteries was observed in two patients. Conclusions Early occurrence of anastomotic false aneurysm is characteristic of BD. Further investigation is necessary to establish effective postoperative treatment.