Study on clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes of 173 patients with Takayasu arteritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo study the clinical features, arterial involvement, therapeutic strategies and outcomes of Takayasu arteritis (TA). MethodsThe clinical symptoms, arterial images, inflammatory parameters and follow-up information of 173 patients with TA were retrospectively studied. Comparisons between groups were performed by t-test. ResultsThere were 136 female and 37 male patients in this study. The mean age at onset was(26±11 ) years. Hypertension, pulse deficit or asymmetrical pulse, and fever were present in 46.6％, 41.1％, 28.7％ of patients, respectively. The distribution of arterial involvement were 64.7％in aorta, 9.8％ in pulmonary artery, 19.1％ in innominate artery, 65.9％ in common carotid arteries, 65.3％in the subclavian artery, 36.2％ in the renal artery, 12.1％ in the vertebral artery, and 5.8％ in coeliac axis.Elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) was found in 61.0％ patients. Active tuberculosis or history of tuberculosis was implicated in 45 patients(26.0％). Ten patients(5.8％) were hepatitis B virus carriers.Among 105 followed-up patients, 98 patients(94.2％) achieved persistent remission, 17 patients relapsed when corticosteroids were tapered. ConclusionCorticosteroids combined with or steroid alone, supplemented with endovascular intervention procedures or surgical bypass procedures when necessary, can effectively control the clinical symptoms and inflammatory parameters and improve the quality of life of patients.