It has been suggested that the marked cellular inflammatory response, which characterises Behçet’s syndrome (BS), may be attributable to increased neutrophil locomotion.1-4However, others disagree.5 ,6 We have re-evaluated chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) in BS among a greater number of patients in a controlled setting.

Fifty four male BS patients, nine male patients with ankylosing spondylitis, eight with psoriasis and 37 male healthy controls were studied with 28 female patients with BS and 16 healthy female controls. Behçet patients with severe disease were those with active major vessel and/or eye involvement.

We measured chemotaxis with the “under the agarose method”.7 ,8 The measurements were masked with the assessors not knowing the diagnoses. An inverted microscope fitted with an ocular micrometre disc to measure the migration of neutrophils from …