Deepa Ragesh Panikkath MD, Ragesh Panikkath MD
Takayasu’s arteritis is a large vessel vasculitis of unknown etiology affecting predominantly young women. This case report describes an atypical presentation of this disease in a 49-year-old Caucasian woman who presented in acute congestive heart failure. Workup showed occlusion and stenosis of multiple branches of the aorta, including the left subclavian, right renal, celiac artery, and superior mesenteric artery. She had moderate aortic regurgitation, an aneurysm of the ascending aorta, and a severely reduced ejection fraction of <20%. Clinical and radiographic improvement occurred following prompt immunosuppressive treatment with corticosteroids.
Keywords: Takayasu arteritis, vasculitis, heart failure
Article citation: Panikkath DR, Panikkath R. An unusual case of acute heart failure. The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles 2019:7(28):24–27
From: The Department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas
Submitted: 9/28/2018
Accepted: 11/19/2018
Reviewers: Scott Shurmur MD, Pooja Sethi MD
Conflicts of interest: none
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