Related Experiment Videos
[Takayasu's disease in Morocco. Report of 47 cases]
A el Asri1, Z Tazi-Mezalek, M Aouni
1Service de médecine interne, hôpital Ibn-Sina, 10000 Rabat, Maroc.
Purpose:
Takayasu's disease is a chronic inflammatory arteritis involving large vessels in young women. We studied Moroccan patients to evaluate clinical, biological, radiological and evolution features of this disease in our country.
Methods:
Forty-seven patients with Takayasu's arteritis were studied retrospectively between 1988 et 1999.
Results:
In our series involvement of the aortic arch and its branches was more frequent than the abdominal aorta and its branches. Stenotic lesions of renal arteries were rare. Ultrasound was useful in the diagnosis and the monitoring of the disease. Treatment with glucocorticoids gave good results, with improvement in half of the patients and remission with stabilisation in 40% of cases. Tuberculosis occurred in 8.5% of patients.
Conclusion:
The use of ultrasound and computed tomography angiography is helpful for the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease progression. Glucocorticoids help to induce long remission in about 80% of treated patients. We don't find any relationship between Takayasu's arteritis and tuberculosis.