Intracardiac thrombus in Behcet’s disease: A rare case in the United States

Abstract

Behcet’s disease is a rare systemic disorder which is associated with an underlying vasculitis. Most cases of BD occur in Asia and North American cases are rare. Patients often present with aphthous ulcers and have a number of other clinical findings including genital lesions, skin lesions (folliculitis, erythema nodosum, and acne), and uveitis. Hemoptysis and cough in BD may be a sign of pulmonary involvement with include pulmonary artery aneurysms (PAA). Intracardiac thrombus is another rare occurrence in BD but should be suspected if there is a right heart mass detected on imaging. We present a case of suspected BD who presented with hemoptysis and was diagnosed with PAA and intracardiac thrombus. His aphthous ulcers were not diagnoses until subsequent hospitalization for hemoptysis. Clinicians should be aware of unusual presentations of BD because of the associated high mortality.