PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to examine serum hormone levels, ovarian volume, stromal artery Doppler parameters of patients with Behçet disease (BD) to assess whether there are vascular changes in the gonads of these patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty patients with BD and 31 healthy controls aged between 18–45 years were examined in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (day 2–3) with transvaginal ultrasound to evaluate ovarian volume and ovarian stromal artery Doppler parameters. On the same day, blood was drawn for determining serum hormone levels.

RESULTS

Patients with BD and the controls were comparable with regard to age and body mass index at study inclusion. Although comparison of the ovarian stromal artery Doppler velocimetric parameters did not show significant differences, resistivity, pulsatility indexes and systolic/diastolic ratio were higher, while peak systolic and end diastolic velocities were lower, in BD patients compared to controls. The mean ovarian volume of patients with BD was smaller than the controls but this difference did not reach statistical significance. There were no statistically significant differences between serum hormone levels of either group. We did not find any correlations between hormone levels and mean ovarian stromal artery Doppler parameters of patients with BD.

CONCLUSION

Ovarian stromal artery Doppler parameters of patients with BD did not show any significant differences compared to healthy controls. Therefore, we conclude that ovarian stromal artery is not involved in patients with BD as assessed by transvaginal Doppler ultrasound and serum hormone levels do not differ from the levels of healthy controls.

Keywords: Behcet disease , ovary , Doppler ultrasound , hormones