Atypical childhood Takayasu arteritis – A case report

Abstract

Childhood Takayasu arteritis is one of the most common vasculitis in paediatric age group. It predominantly involves the greater vessels such as aorta and its branches, leading to granulomatous inflammation. The process of inflammation gives rise to the symptoms based on thrombotic or aneurysmal phenomena. This is a case report of a 11-year-old girl diagnosed in an urban tertiary care centre in India with childhood Takayasu arteritis. The said child had first presented with non-specific symptoms such as leg ache, back ache and fever. Over the course of illness, the child developed hypertension and had also suffered from PRES (posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome). Clinical examination was consistent with Takayasu arteritis, however with predominant medium-sized vessel involvement on imaging. Since this is a relatively atypical presentation, it was mandatory to rule out other causes of medium-vessel arteritis, especially DADA2 (deficiency of ADA2).