Non-specific aortoarteritis. Clinical course and long-term medical treatment

The data on clinical course and long-term medical treatment of 215 patients with non-specific aortoarteritis are presented. Out of 180 patients who underwent antinflammatory treatment improvement was observed in 72.7%, fatal outcome occurred in 7.2%, while in the group of 35 patients who had no treatment or had irregular treatment 28.5% died. The patients were treated by steroid hormones, heparin, trentale, indocid. The treatment was long-term, sometimes up to 2 years.     

Sodium and lithium transport and steroid hormones of the adrenal glands

Erythrocyte Na-Li countertransport was determined in 42 patients with essential hypertension (EH), 36 patients with hypertensive chronic diffuse glomerulonephritis, 47 patients with chronic pyelonephritis, 19 patients with renovascular hypertension and 9 patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). None of PA patients was treated with verospiron. Individual assessment of Na-Li exchange was made in 15 patients with nonspecific aorto-arteritis (NAA), untreated by steroid hormones, and in 2 glucocorticoid-treated NAA patients. Na-Li exchange parameters were compared before and after surgery in 7 patients with arterial hypertension (AH). Mean rate of Na-Li countertransport was nearly twice as high in EH patients as compared to the respective rate in patients with renal AH, whereas the difference in mean countertransport rates was not significant between EH and PA patients. Increased Na-Li exchange rate went down to normal values in a PA patient, while postoperative hydrocortizone treatment increased this rate in a patient with pheochromocytoma. In the remaining patients with symptomatic hypertensions (renovascular hypertension, pyelonephritic granular kidney, aortic coarctation, pheochromocytoma), Na-Li exchange remained unchanged after surgery. The rate of Na-Li exchange was increased in prednisolone-treated NAA patients, as compared to NAA patients receiving no glucocorticoids. The level of Na-Li exchange was stable over 9-18 months in AH patients with normal plasma aldosterone levels. No effects of obsidan, corinfar, clophelin, furosemide, hypothiazide and triampur on Na-Li exchange were identified.     

Rheumatic manifestations of Takayasu's disease

Rheumatic manifestations of nonspecific aortic arteritis are described with a special focus on analysis of early symptoms of the disease.