Treatment of Behçet's disease with granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis.

The painful orogenital ulcerations of Behçet's disease are among the major symptoms of patients and are often intractable. We assessed the efficacy of granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis therapy in two patients, a 21-year-old man with orogenital ulcerations and a 50-year-old woman with genital ulceration and abdominal pain. They underwent 5 and 8 granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis treatments at 5-day intervals, respectively. The painful orogenital ulcerations of the man responded dramatically and the genital ulcer of the woman decreased in size and her abdominal pain was improved. Our results demonstrate that granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis may be useful for treating orogenital ulcerations of Behçet's disease.