Pattern recognition is a sequential process—accurate diagnosis and treatment 20 years after presentation

A 25-year-old woman presented with ophthalmic and neurological manifestations. Her ocular manifestations included bilateral uveitis, multifocal retinal phlebitis, vitreitis and multiple retinal haemorrhages. Her neurological manifestations included migrainous headaches with visual aura, transient sensory symptoms and posterior circulation Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated lesions that involved the deep white matter lesions initially and progressed to also involve the juxta cortical white and deep grey matter and brain stem, but without further neurological manifestations. She was sequentially treated with intravenous and oral glucocorticoid, cyclophosphamide and mycophenolate mofetil, but she continued to suffer with persistent episodes of retinal haemorrhages. Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), Susac syndrome and Behcet’s disease were considered in the differential diagnosis. Genetic workup and clinical picture were not suggestive of the former two. Further history of oro-genital ulceration in younger age emerged, which pointed strongly towards a diagnosis of Behcet’s disease with neurological involvement. She was treated with infliximab and methotrexate with complete resolution of her symptoms and withdrawal of corticosteroids for the first time in over two decades.