Takayasu's disease associated with autoimmune thyroiditis and celiac sprue: clinical course and limitations of treatment

Takayasu's arteritis is a non-specific form of vasculitis involving the aor ta, its main branches and pulmonary arteries. It is a rare disease in our c ountry, contracting with the high prevalence in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. We discuss the course of the disease in our patient who was a young women who developed Takayasu's arteritis associated with autoimmune thyroiditis and malabsorption syndrome due to celiac sprue. Long-term immu nosuppressive therapy contributed to stabilizing the associated diseases, b ut did not stop the progression of the vascular lesions. The main adverse o utcome in our patient was the development of severe renovascular hypertensi on. Bilateral renal artery stenosis was treated by angioplasty with stent i mplantation. Based on literature reports, the association of Takayasu's dis ease with multiple autoimmune disorders is a rare event. However, it would appear that the arteritis was the limiting disease for prognosis in our pat ient.