Walsh & Hoyt: Behcet's Disease

In 1937, Hulusi Behcet, a Turkish professor of dermatology, described a chronic relapsing syndrome characterized by oral ulceration, genital ulceration, and uveitis. The condition probably had been described previously by Hippocrates, but Behcet emphasized its existence to the world, and the condition was ultimately called Behcets disease. Additional features of Behcets disease were subsequently reported by Behcet and others, including synovitis, cutaneous vasculitis resembling erythema nodosum, meningoencephalitis, aneurysms affecting large arteries, phlebitis, and discrete ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract. Although Behcets disease shares some clinical and pathologic features with the systemic necrotizing vasculitides, it is usually considered a separate entity.