[Vasculo-Behcet's disease with fatal massive hemoptysis].

A 39-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of hemoptysis. A chest X-ray film on admission showed a patchy shadow in the left lower lung field. Computed tomography revealed nodular opacities in the left pulmonary artery. The patient had history of oral ulcers, erythema nodosum, pustular lesions, and genital ulcers. Furthermore, the needle reaction was positive. Our diagnosis was an incomplete type of Behcet's disease. A radionuclide-venography and lung-perfusion study disclosed deep-vein thrombosis. Combined therapy with prednisolone, colchicine, and indomethacin farnesil was initiated, but the patient died of massive hemoptysis. Pathological examination revealed a ruptured aneurysm in the bronchus segmentalis apacalis and thrombotic angitis in the inferior vena cava. Behcet's disease is rarely a cause of hemoptysis. However, the prevalence of hemoptysis due to pulmonary vasculitis in patients with Behcet's disease has been reported to be 5 to 10% which is not so rare. Because of the poor prognosis, we want to emphasize Behcet's disease as a cause of hemoptysis.