Takayasu's arteritis: a rare cause of cardiac death in a Caucasian teenage female patient

Abstract

A caucasian teenage Dutch schoolgirl with known chronic low visual acuity and albinism, presented with frank acute pulmonary oedema, died after 1 h of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation for bradyarrhythmia and cardiac arrest. Two weeks prior to presentation, during sport training, she complained of oppressive chest pain on exertion accompanied with vomiting without any other systemic symptoms. Post-mortem examination revealed supravalvular stenosis of the pulmonary trunk and ascending aorta with irregular intimal thickening associated with stenosis of the left coronary artery. Microscopic examination demonstrated cellular infiltration of the wall of the aorta and pulmonary trunk with formation of granulomas with multinucleated giant cells. These features are compatible with Takayasu's arteritis.