Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Silk Road Disease


This morning we discussed a case of oral ulcers and our differential diagnosis included Behcet’s disease.

This disorder is a systemic vasculitis that can effect veins of variable sizes. The disease is characterized by relapsing episodes of oral and genital ulcers, skin lesions, and ocular lesions, and can affect other systems including vascular, gastrointestinal, and neurological systems.

It occurs most frequently in an area that coincides with the Old Silk Route, so the disease is sometimes referred to as the Silk Road Disease.

Mainstay of treatment is immunosuppression with corticosteroids, azathioprine, cychlophosphamide, cyclosporine A, and more recently biologics including interferon-alpha, anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha agents.


Here is a recent feview article on the topic.

Behçet's disease--a contemporary review. Mendes D, Correia M, Barbedo M, Vaio T, Mota M, Gonçalves O, Valente J. J Autoimmun. 2009 May-Jun;32(3-4):178-88. Epub 2009 Mar 26.


* The image is a picture of Hulusi Behçet, a Turkish dermatologist and scientist who first described the illness in 1936.

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