Arteritis: experience in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Inflammation of the arteries is a difficult condition to diagnose and treat. Eighteen consecutive patients (16 men, two women) with arteritis treated in the vascular surgery department of King Fahad Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over a period of 3 years were reviewed to define the local pattern of the disease. The mean age of the group was 29.2 (range 18-50) years. Buerger's disease was diagnosed in 11 patients and considered to be the most common type of arteritis. Other types of arteritis identified were: non-specific (four patients), infective (one), irradiation (one) and vasculitis secondary to scleroderma (one). The most common finding was severe lower-limb ischaemia from infrapopliteal occlusion. Arteriography carried out in 16 patients showed either occlusion or stenosis of the affected artery. In one patient an associated renal aneurysm was detected. All patients were advised to stop smoking and unilateral or bilateral lumbar sympathectomy undertaken in those with Buerger's disease. By adopting this policy limb salvage was achieved in nine of the 11 patients with Buerger's disease. In addition to these measures, corticosteroids were prescribed for selected cases of arteritis.