A case of Behcet’s disease presenting with unilateral pleural effusion

Pulmonary manifestations of Behcet’s disease are not very common and usually include pulmonary artery aneurysm, central venous thrombosis, pneumonia，and pleurisy. Recently, we encountered a case of Behcet’s disease presenting with unilateral pleurisy. A 19- year-old man was admitted with complaints of pain in the left side of the chest wall and erythematous nodular skin lesions on both lower legs. He developed unilateral pleural effusion and fever during his hospital course when he was administered antibiotic treatment. Repeated sputum examination failed to detect pathogens. Despite administering intravenous antibiotics, pieural effusion did not improve. Considering that the patient had a history of recurrent oral and genital ulceration, epididymitis, and erythematous nodular skin lesions, we diagnosed him as having Behcet s disease. After 2 weeks of administering the steroid, colchicine, pleural effusion completely disappeared, and chest wall pain and erythematous nodular skin lesions on both lower legs improved. We describe the case of a 19-year-old man who was diagnosed with Behcet’s disease presenting with unilateral pleural effusion.