Background/Purpose: Behcet’s disease (BD) is characterized by hyper-inflammatory response to trauma, which is called the pathergy phenomenon. Therefore, there are concerns about post-operative complications when the affected patients undergo surgical procedures. Here, we comprehensively investigated the incidences of postoperative complications after surgical procedures.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all the patients with BD who underwent surgeries at Seoul National University Hospital between January 2003 to December 2019. Diagnosis of BD was based on the International Study Group criteria or revised diagnostic criteria for the Behcet’s Disease Research Committee of Japan (Japanese criteria). The incidence of surgical complications and the associated factors of surgical wound complications were analyzed.

Results: The patients were composed of 270 patients (49.1 ± 13.6 years at operation, 107 men) and they underwent 356 surgeries. A total of 38 cases (10.7 %) of postoperative complications were found, of which 32 (9 %) were surgical wound complications including 16 wound dehiscences (50 %), 11 bleedings (34.4 %), 6 anastomotic dehiscences (18.8 %), 3 wound infections (9.4 %), 2 graft occlusions (6.3 %), and 1 fistula formation (3.1 %) with median time interval 10 days from the operation date (interquartile range (IQR) 5 to 19 days). Sixteen cases (4.5 %) required reoperations due to wound problems, and there were four operation-related deaths (1.1 %). Seventeen cases of long-term surgical recurrences were identified within the median follow-up of 21.5 months (IQR 16.8 to 52.5 months). Most postoperative wound complications occurred after cardiac (33.3 %), vascular (26 %), and gastrointestinal (12.5 %) surgeries, while those rarely occurred after orthopedic, thoracic, endocrinologic, and breast surgeries.

Conclusion: Incidences of postoperative complications vary among different surgeries in BD. The incidences of surgical wound complications are higher in cardiac, vascular, and gastrointestinal surgeries in patients with BD. Special perioperative care is recommended for these surgeries in BD patients.

« Back to ACR Convergence 2021

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/surgical-outcomes-after-operative-procedures-in-patients-with-behcets-disease/