What's Takayasu arteritis?
Takayasu arteritis is one of the main forms of large-vessel vasculitis: long-term inflammation of the large arteries, especially the aorta and its branches, that can narrow or block them. It mostly affects young women.
| Also indexed as | ORPHA:3287, MONDO:0017991, OMIM:207600 |
|---|---|
| Features mapped | 14 |
| Treatments mapped | 9 |
| Published sources | 16 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-08-04 |
Signs and symptoms
Limb claudication
Pain, cramping, or tiredness in an arm or leg when using it, caused by reduced blood flow.
Constitutional symptoms
General signs of inflammation such as fever, tiredness, and weight loss.
Arterial stenosis
Inflammation thickens the artery walls so they narrow or close off, which limits blood flow and can starve limbs or organs of blood.
Reduced or absent arm pulses
A weak or missing pulse in the arm, because the artery supplying it is narrowed.
Blood pressure difference between the arms
A noticeably different blood pressure reading in one arm than the other, a sign that an artery is narrowed.
Stroke
A loss of blood flow to part of the brain. In Takayasu arteritis it more often involves the carotid arteries in the neck.
Renal artery narrowing
Narrowing of the arteries that supply the kidneys, which can raise blood pressure and harm kidney function.
Hypertension
Raised blood pressure, in Takayasu often caused by narrowing of the arteries that supply the kidneys.
Aorta and major-branch involvement
Inflammation centered on the aorta, the body's main artery, and its large branches, which can narrow, block, or balloon them.
Arterial bruit
In Takayasu arteritis, inflamed and narrowed arteries can create a bruit, a rushing sound heard over a major blood vessel. It is one of the common findings in the disease.
Aortic regurgitation
Takayasu arteritis can affect the root of the aorta and make the aortic valve leak, so some blood flows backward with each heartbeat. This is called aortic regurgitation.
Visual impairment
Reduced blood flow to the head in Takayasu arteritis can cause visual disturbances, such as blurred or dimmed vision.
Syncope
In Takayasu arteritis, narrowing of the arteries that supply the brain can lead to syncope, a brief faint or loss of consciousness.
Carotidynia
Inflammation of the carotid arteries in Takayasu arteritis can cause carotidynia, tenderness or pain over the carotid artery in the neck.
How it is diagnosed
Takayasu arteritis
Diagnosed using: Vascular imaging (ultrasound, CT, MRI, PET).
Takayasu arteritis
Diagnosed using: 2022 ACR/EULAR classification criteria.
Takayasu arteritis
Diagnosed using: FDG-PET.
“Fluorine-18 flourodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) scan has been utilized to detect areas of active inflammation in neoplastic, infectious and recently, vasculitic conditions.”
Takayasu arteritis
Diagnosed using: Catheter angiography.
“Angiography remains the gold standard for diagnosis.”
Treatment and management
What the research describes, not a recommendation. Treatment decisions belong with your clinician.
This covers treatments that appear in the published research mapped here. Investigational and experimental therapies are not included, so their absence is a boundary of this map, not a sign they do not exist.
Glucocorticoids
Steroid medicines that quickly calm inflammation. They are the usual first treatment to bring the disease under control.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
Tocilizumab
A medicine that blocks the IL-6 inflammatory signal. It is used to control the disease and to reduce how much steroid is needed.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
TNF inhibitors
Medicines that block the TNF-alpha inflammatory signal, used when the disease keeps relapsing or does not respond to first treatments.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
Vascular revascularization
A procedure, by surgery or a stent, to reopen or bypass a severely narrowed artery when blood flow to a limb or organ is at risk.
Used to help with: Arterial stenosis.
Methotrexate
Methotrexate is one of the conventional immunosuppressant medicines that has been used to help control Takayasu arteritis and reduce reliance on steroids. Trial results for these conventional immunosuppressants have overall been mixed.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
“The results of treatment trials with conventional immunosuppressive agents such as methotrexate, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, and cyclophosphamide have overall been disappointing.”
Azathioprine
Azathioprine is one of the conventional immunosuppressant medicines used alongside steroids in Takayasu arteritis. Trial results for these conventional immunosuppressants have overall been mixed.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
“The results of treatment trials with conventional immunosuppressive agents such as methotrexate, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, and cyclophosphamide have overall been disappointing.”
Percutaneous angioplasty with stenting
Angioplasty with stenting is a catheter-based procedure that opens a narrowed artery in Takayasu arteritis. It is used in selected cases to restore blood flow through a critically narrowed vessel.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
“Angiographic evaluation and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting is useful in selected cases.”
JAK inhibitors
JAK inhibitors (Janus kinase inhibitors) are a newer class of medicine being studied in Takayasu arteritis. Early evidence suggests they can help bring the disease into remission, improve imaging findings, and reduce the amount of steroid needed.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
“In TAK, TNF inhibitors and tocilizumab are comparably effective; early data suggest Janus kinases (JAK) inhibitors promote remission, imaging improvement, and glucocorticoid sparing.”
mycophenolate mofetil
Mycophenolate mofetil is an immunosuppressant used in Takayasu arteritis, often to allow steroid doses to be lowered. In a case series of patients with active disease it was described as a safe and effective steroid-sparing option, with most patients improving.
Used to help with: Takayasu arteritis.
“This study is the largest series till date establishing the use of mycophenolate as a safe and effective steroid-sparing immunosuppressant in Takayasu's arteritis.”
What changes how it shows up
The diagnosis is not the whole story. The factors and open questions below are described in the research mapped here as shaping whether, or how strongly, the condition shows up, or as points the field has not yet settled. They are not, on their own, its cause or its cure.
Young age of onset (under 50)
Takayasu arteritis usually begins in younger people, typically before age 50. This younger age of onset is one of the features that sets it apart from giant cell arteritis, the other large-vessel vasculitis, which tends to affect older adults.
Described as modulating: Takayasu arteritis.
“TA has been described in different parts of the world and affects predominantly young individuals (<50 years of age).”
How to read the evidence labels
Where this comes from
This guide is built from 16 published source(s). Every claim above links back to one of them. Click any source ID to read the original on PubMed.
Take it further
Printed, source-linked documents built from this condition's graph — ready to bring to an appointment or attach to a coverage request. Every claim carries its published source, the same as this guide.