Photo Credit: Dr Microbe

The following is a summary of “Mimickers of nervous system involvement among patients with Behçet’s syndrome,” published in the September 2024 issue of Neurology by Nas et al.

Conditions mimicking nervous system involvement are present in patients diagnosed with Behçet’s syndrome (BS).

Researchers conducted a retrospective study identifying conditions mimicking nervous system involvement in patients with BS and to determine associated clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings.

They screened the charts of 500 consecutive patients with BS to identify those referred to neurology at any time during follow-up. The final diagnoses, presenting signs and symptoms, and laboratory and imaging results were retrieved from patient charts. Patients who did not have a follow-up visit during the last three months were invited to the clinic.

The results showed 500 patients with BS, 116 (23%) had been referred to neurology, and 29 (5.8%) were diagnosed with typical central nervous system involvement of BS (NeuroBS). The type of NeuroBS was parenchymal involvement in 21 patients, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in 7 patients, and both in 1 patient, 30 patients (6%) had other conditions related to the nervous system, 46 (9.2%) did not have a nervous system disorder. The symptoms recovered spontaneously, and 11 (2.2%) were lost to follow-up without a definite diagnosis. Of the 30 patients with BS who were diagnosed with another nervous system condition, 14 (46%) had primary headache syndromes, 6 (20%) had psychiatric disorders, 2 had entrapment neuropathy, and 1 each had epilepsy, glial tumor, multiple sclerosis, Meniere’s disease, optic neuritis, neuroretinitis, steroid myopathy, and polyneuropathy.

They concluded that nervous system conditions other than NeuroBS were frequent among patients with BS referred to neurology, and caution was needed to avoid misdiagnosis.

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-024-12613-9