Takayasu’s Disease : A Panarteritis

191 Takayasu’s Arteritis (TA) is an inflammatory vascular disease involving the aorta and its major branches as well as the pulmonary artery and its branches1.It was introduced to the medical fraternity in 1827 by Dr. R. Adams2 who was the first physician to note absence of pulse in all four extremities. In 1856 Savory3 reported a case of young female with absence of pulses. In 1908, Dr. Mikito Takayasu, a Japanese Opthalmologist described a peculiar wreath like appearance of retinal blood vessels with absence of radial pulse . According to ICD-9 classification of diseases, NSAA is classified at 446.7. Non-specific Aorto-arteritis is predominantly a disease of young females5 in their second and third decades. It occurs worldwide and no race seems to be immune. Age of onset may range from infancy6 7 to late middle age8 . Waern et. al. 3 found a higher mean age of onset (41 yrs.) in an European study. In Japan mean age at presentation is quoted to be around 29 years. The disease has a predilection for females5 with wide geographical variations. In Japan it is 8 : 1, in Mexico 5 : 1, in India 4 : 19 and in Israel 1.2 : 1. In a recent series by Panja et. al.10 M : F ratio was 1 : 6.4.