Treatment of Takayasu's arteritis by methotrexate

Takayasu's disease is a nonspecific aortic arteritis that affects mostly yo ung women and sometimes children. Usual treatment consists of early and pro longed steroids. Some patients do not respond to this treatment, become ste roid-dependant or suffer from side effects. We report a case in which metho trexate proved to be effective. Case report. - A 6-year-old girl presented with Takayasu's disease with ele vated blood pressure of renovascular origin. Corticosteroids controlled the inflammatory syndrome but not the renal involvement and stopped the growth . Methotrexate (10 mg/m(2)/week) resulted in the control of the disease, th e reduction of steroids and normal growth. Conclusion. - In Takayasu's disease, steroids should be given as first-line therapy. In case of failure, side effects or steroid dependency, small dos es of methotrexate, may facilitate the disease's control and weaning from t he steroids. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.