What is Takayasu Arteritis?

When there is an aorta inflammation, it is called Takayasu arteritis. Its cause is unknown and it typically affects Asian or African young women and children. It seems to be an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are where the patient's body attacks itself, thinking that it is a foreign body. This fighting of cells and tissue can cause inflammation and irritation.

Symptoms

Signs of Takayasu arteritis include chest pain, fatigue, fever, dizziness, arm pain or weakness, lightheadedness, skin rash, muscle pain, joint pain, vision changes, weight loss, and night sweats. You do not need to have every symptom to have this condition, although most patients will have a few of these signs.

Diagnosis

Doctors will look for high blood pressure with a difference in the pressure of one arm over another. They also look at decreased radial pulses. They look for inflammation with tests like chest x-rays, ultrasound, MRIs, magnetic resonance angiography, CBC blood test, C-reactive protein, electrocardiogram, angiogram, and arteriogram. Any sign of narrowed blood vessels or circulation problems should be properly tested and examined.

Treatment

It is difficult to treat this condition. Patients are treated with drugs that are steroids or immunosuppressives. There may be the need for surgery to bypass the narrowed arteries. This condition can be fatal. But when managed, there is a 90 percent survival rating. There can be a few complications from Takayasu arteritis such as stroke, pleuritis, pericarditis, heart attack, heart failure, and blood clots.

Takayasu arteritis can have a positive prognosis when it is caught early and treatment begun before long-term damage to the vessels has started.

Source: A.D.A.M.