Complete heart block in a Caucasian woman with Behcet's disease: a case report
BackgroundBehcet's disease is a progressive diffuse inflammatory vasculitis characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulceration and ocular inflammation. Cardiac involvement is a rare but well documented manifestation of Behcet's disease. Complete heart block in non Caucasian populations has been reported previously; however, in this report, we describe a unique case of complete heart block in a Caucasian woman with Behcet's disease.Case presentationA 48 year old Caucasian woman presented to our hospital with symptomatic complete heart block requiring a pacemaker implant on a background of recurrent oral and genital ulcers and oligoarthritis of 10 months' duration. She also had a history of recurrent diarrhea with a single episode of ocular inflammation in the recent past. She had no evidence of cardiac ischemia, and her autoimmune antibodies were within normal ranges. She was diagnosed with Behcet's disease according to international study group criteria and was commenced on prednisolone and sulfasalazine, to which she responded very well.ConclusionsCardiac complications should be considered when making a diagnosis of Behcet's disease, even in Caucasian patients. While mucocutaneous ulceration is indeed the most common manifestation of Behcet's disease, cardiovascular involvement tends to cause the most morbidity and mortality.
Journal of Medical Case Reports