Intestinal Behçet and Crohn’s disease: two sides of the same coin

Behcet’s disease (BD) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are chronic immune-mediated, inflammatory disorders affecting many different systems (joints, skin, eyes, gastrointestinal and biliary tracts). Both disorders have fluctuating courses and when gastrointestinal symptoms are prevalent, differential diagnosis can be difficult. BD involves the gastrointestinal tract in 10–15% of cases with localized lesions in the ileocecal region. The clinical picture is heterogeneous with various clusters of disease expression. CD is a chronic inflammatory disorder, which can affect any part of the intestinal tract, as well as extra-intestinal tissue. Factors that contribute towards the pathogenesis of both disease include the host’s genetic profile, and immune system, and environmental factors such as the gut microbiota. The aim of this manuscript is to provide a narrative review of clinical features of BD and CD, highlighting the importance of differential diagnosis and therapeutic approach, especially in the presence of gastrointestinal involvement. A comprehensive search of published literature using the Pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) database was carried out to identify all articles published in English from 1999 to October 2016, using 4 key terms: “Behcet Disease”, “Intestinal Behcet’s Disease”, “Crohn’s Disease” and” Inflammatory Bowel Disease”.