Successful Renal Transplantation in a Patient with Behcet Disease and Hodgkin Lymphoma in Remission

Behcet’s disease (BD) is an inflammatory multisystemic disease characterized by perivascular inflammation and generally presents with recurrent oral and genital ulcers and uveitis. It is known that BD may also involve the kidneys. Amyloidosis, glomerulonephritis (crescentic, proliferative), IgA nephropathy, interstitial nephritis are commonly described renal lesions which may lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in BD. Immunosuppressive therapies used for the treatment of BD may cause malignant diseases (lymphoma, skin and solid organ malignancies, etc). The risk with azathioprin is especially high after 10 years of treatment. Cyclosporine, another immunosuppressive agent frequently used for treatment of BD, also has tumorigenic potential and is associated with renal toxicity and renal failure. Renal transplantation may be performed in patients with malignancies after a 2-5 year complete remission period, although it may differ according to the type of tumor. We report a case of end-stage renal disease and Hodgkin’s lymphoma occurring after treatment with immunosuppressive medicine for BD. The patient was successfully treated with renal transplantation.