Takayasu's arteritis in childhood

Takayasu's arteritis is the most frequently aquired, chronic, devastating, potential life threatening, granulomatous inflammation of arteries with a large diameter. This large vessel vasculitis is commonly involving the aorta and its main branches. Vessel wall inflammation leads to wall thickening, fibrosis and thrombus formation. Affected vessels may present with stenotic and/or aneurysmatic formation. Symptoms may reflect end organ ischemia. Making a diagnosis of vessel inflammation by biopsy of an involved vessel is impractical and unethic. Therefore vessel inflammation is diagnosed by clinical presentation, imaging techniques and laboratory investigations. TA occurs at any age with a predominance in adolescence and young adulthood. Larger series about TA in adults are available. The studies about TA in childhood are rare. Symptoms be either typical as hypertension and pulslessness, but a more unspecific presentation may also indicate TA. Therfore, the diagnosis of TA is always a challenge to clinicians, particularly some of more typical diseases in childhood can mimic TA.