Vasculitis--Indian perspective.

large Vessel Vasculitis Non-specific Aortoarteritis (Takayasu’s arteritis) Aortoarteritis has been well described and studied from India.6Two monograms written by Indian authors are available on the subject.10,11 In contrast to Japanese patients in whom proximal aorta involvement is common ( %), in Indian patients descending and especially abdominal aorta involvement (reversed coarctation) is common ( %).6 Aortoarteritis is the commonest cause of renovascular hypertension in our context.5 A high association with tuberculosis was described by Sen et al10 but not substantiated by others. Recently Aggarwala et al reported heightened immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens, suggesting that this organism may have a role in the immunopathogenesis of this disease.13 Acute form is rarely diagnosed. Pulmonary involvement is reported as also involvement of coronary arteries. Sharma et al have reported persistent inflammatory activity for a prolonged period even when disease appears to be clinically silent. Mehra has reported an association with HLA B5 especially its alleles B51 and B5 . Giant cell arteritis is distinctly uncommon in India. Kawasaki disease (KD) which affects paediatric age group has been reported from Chennai and Chandigarh,14,15 Both workers feel that KD is underdiagnosed in India.