Takayasu Arteritis

Excerpt

Takayasu arteritis, aka pulseless disease, is a systemic inflammatory condition which leads to damage of the medium and large arteries and their branches. It occurs predominantly in young Asian women. It usually involves the aorta and its major branches, particularly the renal arteries, carotid arteries, and subclavian arteries, and leads to stenosis, occlusions, or aneurysmal degeneration of these large arteries. An abnormality in cell-mediated immunity seems to be its main pathogenesis, but its etiology is still largely unknown. Diagnosis is based on suspicion as well arteriographic findings. Treatment usually begins with medical management using corticosteroids; however, surgical management has become more common recently due to findings of an overall lack of disease regression and high rates of relapse with just medical management alone.