Background: Ocular involvement in Behcet’s disease (BD) is common and severe. According to the literature, it occurs in 25% to 80% of cases.

Objectives: Our study aimed to determine the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and prognostic features of ocular involvement in patients with Behçet’s disease.

Methods: A retrospective and descriptive study was conducted within the internal medicine department of Taher Maamouri Hospital, between 2015 and 2023. All patients meeting the new MB classification criteria (International Criteria for Behçet’s Disease: ICBD) and having ocular involvement were included.

Results: In a cohort of 110 patients diagnosed with Behçet’s disease, thirty-seven had ocular involvement (33.6%). The male-female ratio was 4,28. The mean age at onset of ocular involvement was 28.14 years. Ocular involvement was inaugural in 24 cases. The mean delay between the onset of ocular involvement and the diagnosis of Behçet’s disease was 5.18 months. Ocular involvement was bilateral in 26 cases. Uveitis was the most common ocular manifestation (33 cases), followed by retinal thrombosis in 2 cases, episcleritis in 2 cases and optic neuropathy in one case. The uveitis was anterior in 9 cases (24.3%), intermediate in 1 case (2.7%), posterior in 5 cases (%) and panuveitis in 18 cases (48.6%). Retinal vasculitis was noted in 16 cases. Extra-ocular manifestations included: mucocutaneous involvement in all patients, joint involvement (n=17), neurological involvement (n=7) and vascular involvement (n=6). All patients having an ocular involvement were treated with corticosteroids. Local treatment was prescribed in 27 patients. Immunosuppressive (IS) treatments were used in 22 patients. Cyclophosphamide was the most used as first-line treatment (40%) followed by azathioprine in 5 cases and ciclosporin in one case. One patient was treated with anti-TNF alpha. Ocular complications were noted in 13 patients including synechiae (2 cases; 5.4%), blindness (3 cases; 8.1%) and chorioretinal detachment (1 case; 2.7%). After an average follow-up of 1 year, 21,6% of patients had stable visual acuity while receiving treatment and 13,5% had a significant decrease in visual acuity.

Conclusion: Early and appropriate management of ocular involvement in Behcet’s disease is essential to improve visual prognosis.

REFERENCES: NIL.

Acknowledgements: NIL.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.