Clinical and imaging manifestations of Takayasu's arteritis with pulmonary hypertension: A retrospective cohort study in China

Abstract

BackgroundTakayasu's arteritis with pulmonary artery involvement (PTA) is uncommon and part of which may be accompanied by pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study herein investigated the clinical presentation, imaging features, and outcomes in PTA patients with and without PH. MethodsA total of 57 PTA patients were selected at the Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital from January 2011 to July 2017. Patients were placed into two groups, PTA-with-PH or PTA-without-PH. The clinical characteristics, imaging features, and outcomes of patients in these two groups were investigated. ResultsAmong the 57 PTA patients, 24 were in the PTA-without-PH group and 33 were in the PTA-with-PH group. The disease duration in PTA-with-PH patients was longer than that of PTA-without-PH patients. The mean follow-up duration of 43 patients was 33.5 ± 20.3 months, while three patients in the PTA-with-PH were deceased. The PTA-with-PH group had significantly higher prevalence of chest tightness and dyspnea, shorter 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) and higher Borg scores after walk than that the PTA-without-PH group. Imaging analyses revealed that patients had five different arterial lesions (stenosis, occlusion, vascular wall thickening, in situ thrombosis, and aneurysm), but aneurysms were only detected in patients in PTA-with-PH patients at 42%. Compared with PTA-without-PH patients, PTA-with-PH patients tended to have occlusion lesions, but less likely to have vascular wall thickening. ConclusionsCompared with PTA-without-PH patients, PTA-with-PH patients had longer disease duration, more severe symptoms and tended to be deceased during the follow-up time. In addition, PTA-with-PH patients tended to have aneurysm and occlusion vessel lesions.