Extensive Takayasu Arteritis

Xiaoyong Zhang, MD*; Hui Song, MD*; Xi Zhao, MD**; Rongpin Wang, MD*
*Department of Radiology, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, P. R. China
**Siemens Healthineers China
|2019-01-30

A 43-year-old female patient, complaining of chest tightness and shortness of breath upon exertion, was admitted to our hospital. The symptoms began a year ago and had aggravated over the past 10 days. The patient had a history of hypertension for the past five years. Physical examination revealed a blood pressure difference of 25 mmHg between the right and left arms (165/82 mmHg vs. 140/85 mmHg). Crepitant rales in the thoracic aorta, the abdominal aorta, bilateral subclavian arteries and femoral arteries were audible. Laboratory tests resulted in an ESR of 71 mm/hour and a positive TB. Takayasu arteritis (TA) was suspected and a Dual Energy (DE) whole body CT angiography (CTA) was performed for further investigation.