Potential Utility of Oral Mucosal Capillaroscopy as an Indicator of Microvascular Damage in Behçet Disease: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Introduction: Behçet disease (BD) is an auto-inflammatory condition characterized by multisystemic vasculitis. Oral mucosal capillaroscopy is an easy-to-use, repeatable, non-invasive method for evaluating mucosal microvasculature, contributing to the differential diagnosis and prognosis of various acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.
 Objectives: This study aims to characterize and describe the oral labial mucosal capillary findings in patients with BD using handheld dermatoscopy and to investigate the relationship between the capillary findings and the severity of the disease.
 Methods: This cross-sectional study included patients with BD and healthy subjects. Capillaroscopic examination of the oral labial mucosa in each subject was performed by a handheld dermatoscope using polarized light. The clinical severity of BD was evaluated using Krause's Clinical Severity Scoring for BD.
 Results: Sixty patients with BD and 60 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. The frequencies of irregular capillaries, microhemorrhages, glomerular vessels, megacapillaries, and tortuous vessels were statistically significantly higher in the patient group when compared to the healthy individuals. In addition, a correlation was detected between the oral mucosal capillaroscopic findings and disease duration, severity, and vascular complications.
 Conclusions: Our study is the first to explore the potential role of oral mucosal capillaroscopic examination in patients with BD. Data obtained from this study indicated that oral mucosal capillaroscopy may be a useful tool to demonstrate microvascular damage in patients with BD.

Orofacial Manifestation of Systemic Sclerosis: A Cross-Sectional Study and Future Prospects of Oral Capillaroscopy

“…It is evident that this examination can also be performed in many research topics of dentistry within the mucosal surface of the oral cavity. Currently, oral capillaroscopy can be used for several diseases, such as Behçet Syndrome, Sjogren Syndrome, diabetic microangiopathy, periodontitis, COVID-19, and SSc [14,[58][59][60][61]. The evaluation of vascular involvement in the oral cavity is crucial in the management of SSc patients.…”

“…SSc patients may present with giant capillaries, microhemorrhages, avascularity, and neoangiogenesis at the nailfold videocapillaroscopy [11], which is a non-invasive, simple, fast, and reliable technique to evaluate the microcirculation; it is useful in differentiating SSc alteration from the primary Raynaud phenomenon [12,13]. Capillaroscopy could also be performed on oral mucosa in order to evaluate the local microcirculation abnormalities during diabetes, Sjogren syndrome, Behçet disease, Systemic Lupus Erythematous, Myositis, and SSc, but few studies have been conducted on the latter [14]. Therefore, the principal aim of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate the presence of oral manifestations and microcirculation alterations in SSc patients, their level of manual functional skills, and the influence of the disease on their quality of life.…”