Abstract
OBJECTIVE/AIM: Differentiating the gastrointestinal (GI) involvement of Behçet's disease (BD) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) can be a diagnostic challenge. We previously reported that the wall thickness of the common femoral vein (CFV) is higher in BD patients compared to Crohn's disease (CD) with a limited number of IBD patients with only CD. This study aimed to evaluate the CFV thickness measurement in BD patients and in a larger group of IBD patients including both ulcerative colitis (UC) and CD. METHODS: The study included patients with BD (n=117), IBD (n=87, [53 CD, 34 UC]), and healthy gender-matched controls (HC) (n=85). CFV wall thicknesses were measured with Doppler ultrasonography. RESULTS: Among BD patients, 70 (59.8%) had major organ (48[41.0%] vascular, 21[30.0%] ocular, 11[15.7%] gastrointestinal, and 8[11.4%] neurological) involvement. The mean right CFV thickness was 0.75±0.21 mm, 0.32±0.08 mm, and 0.28±0.13 mm for BD, IBD, and HC, respectively (p<0.001). BD patients had significantly higher CFV wall thicknesses compared to IBD patients and HC (adj. p<0.001 for both), and CFV thicknesses in IBD were comparable to HC (adj.p>0.05). Among BD patients, CFV thicknesses did not differ in patients with and without GI involvement. CFV thicknesses were also similar in patients with CD and UC. CONCLUSION: CFV thickness was significantly higher in BD compared to CD and UC patients. These results suggest that the CFV wall thickness measurement may be used in daily practice to differentiate GIBD from IBD.