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Examination of antinuclear antibody (ANA) is used in diagnosis of systemic autoimmune diseases, and the indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assay using HEp-2 cells is the gold standard method. HEp-2 allows the detection of multiple target antigen-directed autoantibodies. The guide “The International Consensus on ANA Patterns (ICAP)”, characterizes the patterns into three groups: nuclear, cytoplasmic, and mitotic. The majority of these are associated with autoimmune diseases, but some are rarely seen in autoimmune diseases or may be associated with conditions other than autoimmune disease. There is no consensus on how to report cytoplasmic and mitotic patterns-negative or positive. We aimed to examine the characteristics of patients that had cytoplasmic or mitotic staining in ANA evaluation by IIF. In our Medical Microbiology Laboratory, 18985 ANA tests of 16940 patients were studied between 01.01.2015-31.12.2019. Cytoplasmic or mitotic pattern was detected in 393 (2.07%) tests belonging to 385 patients. Cytoplasmic patterns suggestive of anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA), anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASMA), anti-Jo-1 and anti-ribosomal P-protein were not included. The most common patterns were anti-midbody, anti-spindle fibers, and anti-vimentin patterns. There were 66 rheumatology patients that were negative for ANA but had cytoplasmic or mitotic staining. There was no statistically significant difference between the diagnosis and patterns of these patients. We suggest that the ANA should be reported as “negative” in case of cytoplasmic or mitotic pattern unless the term anti-cell antibody is used. It should be noted in the description part of the report in order to distinguish significant cytoplasmic patterns and give an idea for some specific conditions.

Pulmonary involvement other than pulmonary artery involvement in Behcet's disease still remains an area of investigation. The aim of this study was to evaluate pulmonary involvement associated with Behcet's disease.We retrospectively investigated all Behcet's disease patients in terms of pulmonary involvement. Twenty-eight patients, whose radiologic examinations were consistent with Behcet's disease-related involvement after excluding other possibilities, were included in this study. Data regarding demographic characteristics, other clinical components of Behcet's disease, treatment modalities, and types of pulmonary involvement were analyzed.Pulmonary involvement was seen more common in male (82.1% vs 17.9%). Mean age for Behcet's disease diagnosis was found 32 years (SD 10.9) and mean age for pulmonary involvement was calculated 37 years (SD 11.4). Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was the most common associated vascular involvement (53.6%). In our study population, alveolar hemorrhage and/or ground glass appearance were seen in 46.4% (13/28) of BD patients with pulmonary involvement. Totally, pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA), small-sized pulmonary vasculitis (sPV), and pulmonary thrombosis (PT) were seen in 7 (25%), 13 (46.3%), and 18 (64.4%) of patients, respectively. Intracardiac thrombosis (ICT) in the right ventricle was present in 5 patients. Cyclophosphamide (CYC) was the most common preferred agent (78%) followed by azathioprine (AZA) in the first line. Warfarin was used in 18 patients. Overall mortality was seen in 3 patients: 1 due to PAA bleeding and others with unknown causes.Despite the importance of pulmonary artery involvement and pulmonary thrombosis in Behcet's disease, small-sized pulmonary vasculitis in the form of small vessel involvement is generally overlooked. Our study findings have shown that alveolar hemorrhage and/or ground-glass appearance in the absence of pulmonary artery aneurysm and pulmonary thrombosis are seen commonly as well. Key Points • The characteristics of pulmonary small vasculature involvement in Behcet's disease which is still an area of investigation warrant further attention. • The clinician should bear in mind that the spectrum of pulmonary involvement in Behcet's disease may be variable, but an extensive work up is still of great importance especially in atypical cases.