Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Uluslararası Katılımlı Türk Romatoloji Kongresi 8-12 Mart 2023, Antalya, Türkiye, 8 - 12 Mart 2023, ss.190
Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a rare chronic inflammatory large-vessel vasculitis of the aorta and its
major branches. It may present various clinical features ranging from early nonspecific
constitutional symptoms to late life-threatening cardiovascular and neurological complications.
Difficulty in recognizing the disease causes a delay in diagnosis and consequently a worse
prognosis. Low back pain is, however, rarely described as a symptom of TA. In this case report, a
53-year-old female patient with low back pain, who was then referred to our clinic by the
neurosurgery department is described. The patient reported severe low back pain of insidious onset
for 9 months, worsening with standing and walking, and improving with sitting and resting. On
physical examination for claudication differntial diagnosis, her blood pressure in the upper
extremities was 120/80 mmHg (right) and 100/60 mmHg (left), a pulse rate of 100/min, and a
respiratory rate of 25/min. Asymmetrical radial pulses and bilateral carotid murmur were noted.
The patient was diagnosed with Takayasu's arteritis according to the advanced examination and
imaging results, and her treatment was started.
Our study highlights that when assessing nonspecific back pain with intermittent claudication,
clinicians should have good knowledge of the differential diagnosis process. A thorough history,
examination of risk factors, and evaluation process allow for identifying underlying vascular
claudication. The most common problem in the diagnosis of TA is not considering TA in the
differential diagnosis. Therefore, TA should be considered as one of the differential diagnoses while
assessing nonspecific low back pain with elevated inflammatory parameters, particularly in women.