Late Onset Takayasu Arteritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

We encountered the rare case of a 48-year-old Caucasian woman who developed Takayasu arteritis (TA) while suffering from seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Several studies have reported an association between TA and various autoimmune disorders, however, the concurrent presence of Takayasu arteritis and rheumatoid arthritis is described in only few cases in the literature to date. The exact nature of the relationship between TA and RA remains unknown. Perhaps the development of these two diseases represents non-specific systemic inflammatory changes in the presence of a hereditary background predisposing to both RA and TA.

Diagnosis of Late‐Onset Takayasu Arteritis for Elderly Adults Using Fluorine‐18 Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography

“…TA, an idiopathic chronic inflammation of the aorta and its main branches, accounts for most of the large vessel vasculitis in Japan . Although TA mainly affects young women, several cases of late‐onset TA have recently been reported in elderly adults . In the present case, the differential diagnosis included giant cell arteritis (GCA) developing late in life.…”

Mining Disease Risk Patterns from Nationwide Clinical Databases for the Assessment of Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk

“…This type is primarily composed of a single disease or symptom that is typically known as an RA risk pattern and is covered in the literature. Examples of this pattern include { rheumatism ➔ RA , 82.97% confidence, 9.16% support, 4.9 relative risk}, { autoimmune disease , not elsewhere classified ➔ RA , 89.81% confidence, 7.02 relative risk}, { arteritis, unspecified ➔ RA , 72.58% confidence, 2.13% support, 2.64 relative risk} [ 22 ], { systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ➔ RA , 85.01% confidence, 3.6% support, 5.67 relative risk} (in the early stages of this disease, SLE patients may have joint complaints that are very similar to those observed in RA; this form of arthritis can be difficult to differentiate from RA) [ 23 ], and { carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) ➔ RA , 73.95% confidence, 9.49% support, 2.8 relative risk} (CTS is one of the most frequent extra-articular manifestations of RA) [ 24 ]. The mining of Type I RA risk patterns is consistent with existing knowledge, and is supported by ample research.…”

Full-blown rheumatoid heart and vessels associated with rheumatoid arthritis

“…Long-standing RA could, though rarely, cause complications of TA and other associated vasculitis. [12] The chronic progression of inflammation by RA would be associated with TA. However, considering her medical history and normal C-reactive protein level, the disease activity had been under good control.…”

“…The time to diagnosis of CV complications from the first diagnosis of RA may differ, but it usually requires a longer duration (16–35 years) for CA cases[56] and a relatively short duration (1–15 years) for TA cases[12] in the literature. In our case, the required time duration was >20 years for major CA symptoms.…”