[Evaluation of radionuclide studies in the 8 patients with Takayasu's arteritis]

We evaluated various radionuclide studies performed in the 8 patients with Takayasu's arteritis over the past six years. Radionuclide angiography was performed in 5 patients to investigate the lesions of the branches of the aortic arch, and it demonstrated abnormalities of the affected arteries in 4 patients. Pulmonary perfusion scan demonstrated single or multiple reduced perfusion sites in all the 5 patients examined, while chest radiographies of these patients did not show any abnormalities in the reduced perfusion sites except one case. Renal scintigraphy revealed reduced renal blood flow in 3 patients. In one of those patients, MRI, CT and DSA studies could not detect any stenotic change in the renal artery. Exercise thallium scan revealed myocardial ischemic changes in 2 patients. One of them had angina pectoris, but another patient did not have any complaints. Of the 6 patients who were examined more than one kind of radionuclide studies, five patients showed abnormalities in more than one study. Ambiguous symptoms at the initial stage and rareness of Takayasu's arteritis may delay diagnosis. Radionuclide studies, which can be performed easily and noninvasively to investigate various organs and to depict multiple vascular involvement, seem to be a useful diagnostic tool of this disease.