Recent advances in the management of Takayasu arteritis

Abstract

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a challenging large vessel vasculitis to treat. Distinguishing disease activity from vascular damage is difficult, often relying on clinician judgement aided by composite clinical disease activity indices with angiographic evidence of vessel wall thickening or vessel wall hypermetabolism demonstrable on positron emission tomography computerized tomography (PET CT). Glucocorticoids form the mainstay of remission induction. While other conventional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) or biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) are commonly used, evidence supporting their usefulness is sparse and generally of low quality. The only two randomized controlled trials (RCT) of a DMARD in TA failed to show efficacy of abatacept in reducing relapses of TA, however, tocilizumab showed a trend towards reduction in time to relapses. Of the cDMARDs, methotrexate, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), leflunomide and cyclophosphamide have shown clinical efficacy in case series, with some evidence that methotrexate, azathioprine and MMF might retard angiographic progression. Among bDMARDs, anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha agents and tocilizumab may be useful in patients refractory to cDMARDs with retardation of angiographic progression, based on evidence derived from mostly retrospective case series, whereas the role of rituximab and ustekinumab needs further elucidation. Revascularization, either surgical or endovascular, is the treatment of choice to relieve critical, symptomatic stenoses and are best undertaken during inactive disease. Emerging evidence suggests that patients with TA also have increased cardiovascular risk and this requires appropriate management. Large studies involving multiple centers are the need of the hour to appropriately evaluate utility of currently available immunosuppressive therapy in TA.

Keywords: Takayasu arteritis; azathioprine; biologic agents; disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; methotrexate; revascularization.