Takayashu's Disease

Abstract

THE TERM "Takayashu's disease" describes a panarteritis of large arteries seen predominantly in young women. There has been confusion in the literature because of the tendency to consider all patients with occlusion of the great vessels arising from the aortic arch as having Takayashu's disease. The etiology of these vascular occlusions is varied, with atherosclerosis probably being the most common in occurrence, and a better generic name for the group would be that of "Aortic Arch Syndrome" as suggested by Frövig.¹ Regardless of etiology, the signs and symptoms usually described in these cases result from occlusion or partial occlusion of large arteries. It is the purpose of this paper to present two patients with aortic arch syndrome, most probably Takayashu's disease, who presented features which are not mentioned commonly in reviews of this disease. These features are: (1) aortic insufficiency, (2) calcification of the arch of the aorta,