Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic granulomatous large vessel vasculitis affecting predominantly young women. The inflammatory process initially leads to thickening of the arterial wall and may result in stenosis, occlusion, dilatation or aneurysm formation. The aim of the study was to find out if sonography can aid in the diagnosis of the disease in earlier stages.

The clinical and duplex ultrasound findings of 40 patients with early Takayashu artertis were analyzed.The left and right common carotid, subclavian and common femoral, iliac arteries in addition to the abdominal aorta, were examined with Color Doppler ultrasound Sonolayer (SSH 140A Toshiba Japan) with a 3.5 MHz sector transducer and a 7.5 MHz linear array transducer. Imaging of the common carotid arteries was performed in the antero-oblique, lateral and postero-oblique projections, while the aorta and the common femoral and subclavian arteries were scanned in the...

The mean age of the patients was 26 years. Colour Doppler sonography and angiography were performed in all cases. The most striking sonographic feature was the presence of concentric arterial wall thickening (Figure 1 and 2). The proximal subclavian artery was abnormal in 10 of 40 cases (Figure 3). A high resistive flow pattern was demonstrated in diseased vessels compared with carotid wave-forms of control subjects (Figure 1,2 and 3). Subtle mural irregularity, minor stenotic lesions and areas of stenosis in branch vessels were missed...

While angiography plays a major role as a baseline assessment of the entire vascular tree, duplex ultrasound can aids TA disease diagnostic. Ultrasonography (US) has the advantages of avoiding the high radiation dosage of angiography, and is cheaper and more widely available, particularly relevant in countries with less resources where TA is more common.

Manel GHARBI, MD Military hospital of Tunis, Department of vascular surgery University Tunis El Manar Tunis, Tunisia [email protected]

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