Clinical characteristics of headache in the patients with Neuro-Behçet's disease.

Abstract

Background: Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic vascular-inflammatory condition of unknown pathogenesis presenting with mucocutaneous lesions, attacks of uveitis that may lead to blindness, and involvement of many systems including vascular, musculo-skeletal system and the gastrointestinal tract.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the frequency of various forms of headache in patients diagnosed with BD, the characteristics of headache in BD, the characteristics of attacks, and the relationship between the disease and headache attacks.

Methods: A total of 35 patients with Neuro-Behçet's disease (NBD) aged ≥ 18 years, who were followed at the Department of Neurology of XX University between 2021 and 2026, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were evaluated for demographic characteristics, headache characteristics and severity, imaging studies, cerebrospinal fluid findings, relationship to attacks, and acute and chronic treatment.

Results: The most common complaint was headache. It was observed that headache could be of primary type as migraine or tension-type headache or secondary headache due to neurological involvement. Headache in NBD was frequently observed during BD attacks (aphthosis and/or uveitis) or in temporal proximity to these attacks, suggesting a possible association with disease activity.

Conclusion: Headache in NBD is heterogeneous and cannot be fully explained by primary headache syndromes alone; a substantial proportion is associated with disease activity and neurological involvement. The temporal association observed between headache and disease attacks may indicate an association between headache and disease activity. Therefore, in patients presenting with headache, NBD involvement should also be considered.