Intima-media thickness of common femoral vein is increased in Behcet's disease.

The histopathological data about vascular inflammation in Behcet's disease(BD) mainly comprises patients with arterial involvement. Inflammatory cell infiltration was mainly observed around the vasa vasorum and adventitial layer of the aneurysmatic vessels, and only a few cells were seen in the intimal layer during active arteritis. There is limited data for the histopathology of venous inflammation. We recently showed that increased common femoral vein(CFV) wall thickness is a specific sign of vein wall inflammation in BD. We aimed to investigate the different vein subsections measuring the whole wall and the intima-media thickness(IMT) of CFV with ultrasonography in BD. We found increased IMT of CFV compared to controls as well as CFV wall thickness. This study shows that there is a full layer venous wall inflammation in BD independent of vascular involvement. Our results suggest that venous endothelial inflammation may trigger the thickening of the vein wall and cause thrombotic tendency in BD.