Destructive Arthritis in Paediatric Behçet’s Disease: A Case Report

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Behçet’s disease (BD) is a systemic inflammatory disease that affects blood vessels of any calibre and has a relapsing and remitting course. Its main features include recurrent oral and genital ulcers, other skin lesions such as pseudo-folliculitis and erythema nodosum, but also uveitis and arthritis. Arthritis in BD is usually described as mono or oligoarticular, non-erosive, affecting mainly large peripheral joints of lower limbs. In paediatric BD, up to forty percent of patients have articular involvement. We present a rare case of a patient who was diagnosed with mucocutaneous, ocular and articular involvement at the age of 15. He initially received treatment with prednisolone and colchicine. However, at the age of 20, he failed to attend follow-up appointments and discontinued his treatment. At the age of 42, he saw a rheumatologist due to joint complaints associated with functional limitations. The medical assessment confirmed polyarthritis with extensive erosive arthropathy detected on imaging. Conclusions This case report exemplifies a joint involvement rarely found in BD and even less in paediatric BD. We should be aware of this unusual involvement and treat patients accordingly since this condition can occur with a dramatic impact on the patient’s functional prognosis as in other inflammatory rheumatic arthropathies.