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Objective: To determine the prevalence of acneiform skin lesions (comedones, papules, and pustules) in patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS) with arthritis., Methods: Study groups included 44 patients with BS with arthritis (32 men, 12 women, mean (SD) age 37.8 (8.9)), 42 patients with BS without arthritis (31 men, 11 women, mean age 35.5 (6.4)), 21 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (five men, 16 women, mean age 48.8 (14)), and 33 healthy volunteers (28 men, five women, mean age 40.1 (8.1)). All probands and controls were examined by a rheumatologist and a dermatologist, in a prospective and masked protocol. An ophthalmological evaluation was performed if necessary. Skin lesions, including comedones, papules, and pustules, were counted and scored as 0: absent, 1: 1-5, 2: 6-10, 3: 11-15, 4: 16-20, and 5: >20., Results: Although there was no significant difference between the four groups in the prevalence of comedones, the number of papules and pustules was significantly higher in patients with BS with arthritis (p=0.0037 for papules and p<0.0001 for pustules) than in the remaining three groups., Conclusion: Acneiform skin lesions (papules and pustules) seem to be more frequent in patients with BS with arthritis. This suggest that the arthritis seen in BS may possibly be related to acne associated arthritis.

Objective: To measure the intestinal permeability in patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS) and to compare the results with those obtained from healthy and diseased controls., Method: The study group comprised 34 patients with BS without known gastrointestinal disease. Ten patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 6 with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), 17 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 15 healthy subjects (HC) constituted the controls. All patients received 100 microCi (3.7 MBq) of chromium-51 EDTA ((51)Cr-EDTA) as a radioactive tracer after a 72 hour abstinence from all drugs. The percentage of the isotope excreted in a 24 hour urinary specimen was the measure of permeability., Results: The percentage (SD) rate of excretion of (51)Cr-EDTA was 4.6 (2.6) in BS, 6 (2.4) in AS, 5.2 (1. 9) in IBD, 5.56 (1.78) in SLE, and 2.3 (1) in healthy controls. (Analysis of variance: f=6.4, p=0.0002. BS v HC, AS v HC, SLE v HC significant.), Conclusion: The intestinal permeability in BS was significantly more than that seen among the healthy controls. Similar results in all the diseased controls cast doubt on its specificity.