1 | INTRODUCTION
Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology that progresses in relapses [1]. It is defined as a systemic variable-vessel vasculitis according to the Chapel Hill classification [2]. The disease is most common along the ”old silk road”, in Mediterranean countries, and in the Middle and Far East. Today, it has spread to Europe and the United States as a result of migratory flows [3,4]. In sub-Saharan Africa, it has rarely been described and the incidence appears to be low [5].
The most common clinical presentations of BD are oral-genital aphthae, skin lesions, ocular involvement, and neurologic and vascular manifestations. Other less frequent presentations include joint involvement, gastrointestinal manifestations (6.3%), epididymitis (7.2%), pleuropulmonary involvement (1.8%), and cardiac involvement (1.8%) [6]. Among the vascular manifestations, arterial involvement is less common than venous involvement. Arterial involvement often takes the form of aneurysms and rarely thrombosis [7]. Aneurysms of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) are uncommon [8].
We report a case of BD in a patient of Malagasy origin complicated by multiple cardiovascular diseases: dilated cardiomyopathy, aneurysm of the abdominal aorta and SMA, and pulmonary embolism.