Summary:
Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic granulomatous vasculitic
disease of the aorta and its major branches, predominantly
affecting young females of Asian origin. Also known as Aortic
arch syndrome, the condition has been better documented as
the ‘Pulse less disease’ leading to claudication, bruits, absent
or reduced brachial or radial pulses and aortic incompetence.
However, a ‘prepulseless’ stage of TA exists, characterized
by non-specific constitutional symptoms, hypertension and raised inflammatory markers. We report the case of an 18-
year-old Bangladeshi female presenting with
hypertension, moderate to severe aortic regurgitation (AR)
and fever, diagnosed and treated as a case of pre-pulseless
TA.
Key words :Takayasu arteritis. Pre-pulseless phase.Aortic
regurgitation. Hypertension.
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2017; 35: 91-96)