The Medical Treatments of Intestinal Behçet's Disease: An Update

Abstract

Behçet's disease (BD) is a systemic immunological disorder characterized by recurrent mucosal ulcerative lesions including oral and genital ulcerations in association with skin and ocular involvements. BD also can involve the gastrointestinal tract. Gastrointestinal involvement of BD is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality for this disease. However, clinical data are quite limited because of the rarity of intestinal BD. Therefore, the management of intestinal BD is heavily dependent on expert opinions and standardized medical treatments of intestinal BD are yet to be established. In this brief review, the authors summarized the currently available medical treatments such as 5-aminosalicylic acids, corticosteroids, immuno-modulators, and anti-TNF agents. Moreover, we sought to suggest a treatment algorithm for intestinal BD based on the recently published and updated data.