Surgical treatment of Takayasu arteritis

From 1959 to 1991, 93 patients underwent vascular reconstruction for Takayasu arteritis at our institution. The details of the cases were as follows: 16 were of type I (brachiocephalic ischemia), 48 type II (hypertension), 13 type III (extensive lesions with cerebral ischemia and hypertension), and 16 type IV (aneurysms). Carotid reconstruction, repair of atypical aortic coarctation, renovascular reconstruction, and aneurysm repair were performed independently or in combination. Nine operative deaths occurred, 8 cases of which were operated before 1970. The most serious of the delayed complications was suture line aneurysm formation, which was encountered in ten cases. The aneurysms were often found long after the operation, some of them developing even after more than 20 years. Takayasu arteritis is characterized by extensive inflammation and destruction of the medial elastic fibers and long term postoperative observation is mandatory to improve the late survival rate.