How is Takayasu disease diagnosed?
The doctor can find elevated blood pressure in over half of the patients with Takayasu disease. Abnormal sounds of blood movement through blood vessels can sometimes be heard with a stethoscope. Small notches in the ribs of the back of the chest have sometimes been detected on routine chest x-rays and are felt to be a result of abnormal pulsations of blood vessels in these areas. The diagnosis is supported by the blood tests, such as a sedimentation rate (sed rate), that suggest inflammation in the body. In fact, elevated blood pressure with an elevated sedimentation rate is distinctly uncommon in children and very helpful in suggesting Takayasu disease as a possible cause. Anemia (low red blood cell count) is frequent. Takayasu arteritis is ultimately diagnosed with an angiogram of the arteries (arteriogram) whereby a contrast material is injected into the blood vessels which makes them visible by x-ray. With the arteriogram, the doctor can visualize the abnormally narrowed and constr
