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Archive for the ‘Takayasu’s Arteritis’ Category

Treatment

Doctors usually begin treatment for Takayasu arteritis with glucocorticoid drugs like prednisone. If these medicines alone do not work well, then it could be added immunosuppressive drugs, including methotrexate (Folex, Methotrexate and Rheumatrex), azathioprine (Imuran), mycophenolate (CellCept), leflunomide (Arava) or cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan, Neosar) . Recent studies suggest that adalimumab injection (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel) or infliximab (Remicade) may be beneficial in controlling vascular inflammation of Takayasu arteritis when other medications do not. To control high blood pressure medications may be needed for blood pressure.

If Takayasu arteritis has caused significant narrowing of an artery segment contracted may need to be opened or repaired. According to the artery affected, this can be done in one of three ways: Read the rest of this entry »

Since Takayasu’s arteritis is so rare and its early symptoms are nonspecific, the doctor may suspect that you suffer from this disease until they show symptoms of narrowing of the arteries. This could take months or even years after the disease manifests itself.

The first signs that you might have Takayasu arteritis could be high blood pressure, which is not caused by another condition, difficulty in achieving a measure of blood pressure of a hand, measuring the difference in pressure in each arm or symptoms of poor circulation, all these are common signs just a young person.

Your doctor may suspect that you have Takayasu arteritis if you have at least 3 of the 6 criteria described by the American College of Rheumatology (American College of Rheumatology) to distinguish it from other forms of vasculitis: Read the rest of this entry »

Takayasu’s arteritis is a chronic (long) that manifests with inflammation (swelling) of the arteries. Also known as Takayasu aortitis, pulseless disease and aortic arch syndrome. The disease is named after the physician, Dr. Mikito Takayasu, who described it in 1905.

In most cases, the target organ of Takayasu’s arteritis is the aorta and its major branches, including the arteries of the brain, arms and kidneys. The aorta is the body’s main artery that pumps blood with oxygen from the heart to the rest of the body. Less frequently, also affected the pulmonary artery and the coronary arteries. Read the rest of this entry »