Takayasu's arteritis: Frequency of systemic manifestations (study of 22 patients) and favorable response to maintenance steroid therapy with adrenocorticosteroids (12 patients)

Abstract Of 22 patients with Takayasu's arteritis, systemic manifestations, such as headache, tiredness, parasthesia and dizziness, were as prevalent as those due to localized arterial insufficiency. General symptoms disappeared rapidly in 20 patients treated with prednisone, and in 7 instances, peripheral pulses reappeared after an average of 24.5 months. On an average maintenance dose of 7.5 mg/day of prednisone, there were no deaths nor evidence of vascular deterioration in these patients. The encouraging result is in sharp contrast to previous reports in the literature. It appears that maintenance steroid therapy lengthens the life‐span of these patients by causing remission of both systemic manifestations and those due to arterial insufficiency. The sedimentation rate is an excellent index both to disease activity and to a favorable response to adrenocorticosteroid therapy.