Massive haemoptysis in Behcet syndrome: case report

Behcet syndrome in association with pulmonary manifestations is rare. We describe a patient suffering from recurrent oral and genital ulcerations, conjuctivitis, thrombophlebitis and fluctuating radiological opacities in the lungs who died after massive haemoptysis. The autopsy showed a necrotizing vasculitis involving pulmonary arteries, muscular arteries and veins. It was complicated by arterial thromboses, bronchial erosions by pulmonary artery aneurysms and formation of a large arterobronchial fistula. We conclude that the spread of the inflammatory infiltrate from the wall of the vessels to the adjacent bronchi is responsible for these complications and that haemoptysis must be considered as the expression of dramatic progression of the disease.