ABSTRACT

Objective:

Behçet’s disease is a common inflammatory disease in our country. We aimed to determine whether mean platelet volume can be used as a marker for oral aphthae and the activity of Behçet’s disease.

Methods:

Between 04/01/2010 and 30/07/2010, 78 patients from the Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital Dermatology Clinic were retrospectively enrolled in this study, of which 15 patients had active Behçet’s disease and 37 had inactive Behçet’s disease that were diagnosed according to the International Criteria for Behçet’s Disease; 26 control patients without any inflammatory disease were also evaluated. Mean platelet volume and laboratory indicators of inflammation were compared between the patients and control groups.

Results:

There were no significant differences in the mean platelet volume values between the active Behçet’s disease group, inactive Behçet’s disease group, and control group (p=0.678). Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the mean platelet volume values between patients with oral aphthae, patients without oral aphthae, and control patients (p=0.637).

Conclusion:

Our results demonstrate that mean platelet volume values cannot be used as a marker for oral aphthae and activity of Behçet’s disease. However, immunosuppressive agents, such as colchicine and corticosteroids that are used in treating Behçet’s disease, could affect the mean platelet volume values in active or inactive Behçet’s disease by suppressing the inflammatory process. Therefore, we believe that the evaluation of the mean platelet volume values in large-scale studies that include patients with newly diagnosed Behçet’s disease, which have not been treated, would be useful.