[Takayasu's disease associated with autoimmune thyroiditis and celiac disease. Clinical course and limitations of treatment]

Abstract

Takayasu's arteritis is a non-specific form of vasculitis involving the aorta, its main branches and pulmonary arteries. It is a rare disease in our country, contrasting with the high prevalence in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. We discuss the course of the disease in our patient who was a young women who developed Takayasu's arteritis associated with autoimmune thyroiditis and malabsorption syndrome due to celiac sprue. Long-term immunosuppressive therapy contributed to stabilizing the associated diseases, but did not stop the progression of the vascular lesions. The main adverse outcome in our patient was the development of severe renovascular hypertension. Bilateral renal artery stenosis was treated by angioplasty with stent implantation. Based on literature reports, the association of Takayasu's disease with multiple autoimmune disorders is a rare event. However, it would appear that the arteritis was the limiting disease for prognosis in our patient.