Venous claudication in Behçet's disease.

Objective: We have previously shown that venous claudication is significantly more common among patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and had proposed that this was a "venous claudication" because it was specifically more common among men with lower extremity venous thrombosis (LEVT). With this study, we reassessed the presence of claudication prospectively by a questionnaire and a treadmill exercise.

Methods: We studied all men: 61 BD patients with LEVT, 40 BD patients without vascular involvement, and 56 healthy controls. Venous claudication was assessed by a standardized questionnaire. In addition, patients were asked to walk on a treadmill for 10 minutes. Patients who experienced symptoms consistent with venous claudication but still able to walk and those who had to give up the treadmill exercise were noted. Ankle-brachial pressure indices measured before and after the treadmill test did not indicate any peripheral arterial disease.

Results: Twenty-one BD patients with LEVT (34%), two BD patients without vascular involvement (5%), and none of the healthy controls described venous claudication when assessed with the questionnaire (P < .001). There were significantly more patients who described claudication during the treadmill exercise among patients with LEVT (21%) compared with those with no vascular disease (8%) and healthy controls (2%) (P = .002). Finally, only those with LEVT (6 of 61) had to stop the treadmill challenge because of claudication.

Conclusions: Venous claudication is a severe and frequent symptom, being present in up to one third of BD patients with LEVT. It impairs walking capacity in 10% of these patients.