Pulmonary artery involvement in Takayasu's arteritis: diagnosis before pulmonary hypertension

This study was performed to analyze the clinical manifestations, imaging features, and prognosis of Takayasu's arteritis (TA) with pulmonary arteritis (PA).

In total, 51 of 815 patients with TA were diagnosed with PA at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 1986 to 2015. The patients' medical records and radiographic data were retrospectively reviewed.

The patients comprised 39 women and 12 men with a median age of 33 years (range, 14-67 years). The most common symptoms were dyspnea (70.6%), cough (66.7%), hemoptysis (47.1%), and chest pain (45.1%). Computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography, pulmonary arteriography, and pulmonary perfusion imaging showed pulmonary artery stenosis or occlusion in 44 patients. A total of 82.4% of patients had lung parenchyma lesions on CT scans, indirectly indicating pulmonary artery involvement. Additionally, 58.8% of patients had pulmonary hypertension (PH) by echocardiography. Compared with the PH group, the non-PH group was characterized by a shorter disease duration; more symptoms such as fever, chest pain, and hemoptysis; an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate; and a higher incidence of subpleural wedge-shaped shadows on chest CT (P < 0.05). The median follow-up period was 48 months (range, 1-212 months), and all three deaths occurred in the PH group.

The clinical manifestations of TA with PA are nonspecific. PH often complicates PA and is associated with a poor prognosis. Early clinical manifestations such as repeated fever, chest pain, hemoptysis, and recurrence of subpleural wedge-shaped shadows on chest CT should arouse suspicion of PA in patients with TA and prompt further investigations. This may allow PA to be diagnosed before the occurrence of PH.

ClinicalTrials, NCT03189602. Date of registration: June 16, 2017. Retrospectively registered.