Research Information System
ANNALS OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE, vol.20, no.10, pp.649-653, 2006 (SCI-Expanded)
Articular involvement was reported to be present in approximately 5-76% of Behcet patients. Therefore, we need a useful non-invasive method to detect articular involvement early in Behcet patients with nonspecific complaints. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of Tc-99m-methylene diphosphonate (Tc-99m-MDP) bone scintigraphy in the detection of the articular involvement of Behcet's disease (1313). Bone scintigraphy with Tc-99m-MDP was performed in 32 (17 male, 15 female) consecutive patients with BD. The sacroiliac (SI) joints with SI index higher than 1.34 were diagnosed as having sacroiliitis. Although joint complaints were present in only 8 (25%) patients, we detected joint involvement by scintigraphy in 27/32 (84.4%) Behcet patients mostly affecting the knees (62.5%), ankles (59.4%), SI joints (25%), wrists (21.9%), shoulders (18.7%), elbows (12.5%) and hips (3.1%). The articular involvement was monoarticular in four cases (12.5%) and was oligoarticular in the remaining. There was no correlation between joint involvement and age, gender, disease duration, drug usage or other clinical manifestations. Despite the fact that our patients were clinically asymptomatic and had normal pelvis radiography, sacroiliitis was found in 8 patients (25%). Bone scintigraphy is sensitive in the diagnosis of joint involvement allowing earlier diagnosis and showing the presence of articular involvement, especially in SI joints.