Endocardial lesion in a case of Takayasu's arteriopathy

The clinical findings and the necropsy report of a 14-year-old girl suffering from Takayasu's arteriopathy have been presented. In addition to the typical arterial changes, thickening and puckering of the aortic valve and a patch of thickening in the left atrial endocardium were shown at necropsy. The histology of this lesion was found to be identical with the arterial intimal changes. It has been postulated that Takayasu's arteriopathy may rarely extend to the valvular and mural endocardium of the heart, producing cardiac murmurs. Similar cases with cardiac murmurs reported earlier and attributed to associated rheumatic endocarditis were probably due to the same pathological process extending to the endocarditis.