Clinical and angiographic profile of Takayasu's arteritis in Bangladesh.

Nineteen patients (11 female and 8 male) with a mean age of 22.7 years (range 10 to 35 yrs) with Takayasu's arteritis were studied between July 1985 to June 1993. These patients had both non vascular symptoms (myalgia/arthralgia in 47% and weight loss in 31%) and symptoms of vascular insufficiency such as arm claudication or numbness (37%) and hypertension due to renal artery involvement (73%). Vascular bruits were found in 73% and diminished or absent pulses was detected in 52% of patients. All patients had arterial involvement at multiple sites documented by aortography with various combinations of stenosis, irregularity of arterial lumen and aneurysm formation. Angiographic type II was most frequent (47%) form found in our series. Five patients (26%) had pulmonary artery involvement. We conclude that hypertension is one of the most common manifestation of Takayasu's arteritis in these patients and renal artery stenosis is the most common cause of hypertension.