Takayasu arteritis. An arteriographic-pathological correlation.

We report an aortographic-pathological correlation in a patient with Takayasu arteritis. The inflammatory activity in Takayasu arteritis gradually subsides and accordingly, the histological appearance goes through a cycle of changes, ranging from acute florid inflammation to an old scarred vessel. At gross pathological inspection, the aortic intima frequently shows longitudinal wrinkling and tree-barking indistinguishable from syphilitic aortitis. In other instances, secondary atherosclerosis totally obscures the underlying changes of aortitis. In such instances, close search at various levels of the aorta is likely to uncover persistent foci of arteritis and thereby permit identification of the pathological changes as secondary to previous aortitis.