Arterial Stiffness in Chronic Severe Inflammation Along With Takayasu Arteritis

Fujioka K

Published on: 2022-08-11

Abstract

Endothelial dysfunction is the first step in the development of atherosclerosis. The risk of cardiovascular (CV) events have increased in patients with chronic severe inflammation including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and systemic sclerosis (SSc). Meanwhile, previous reports provided that accelerated atheromatosis and arterial stiffening in patients with primary systemic vasculitides (PSV) have been shown. In this article, current knowledge and trends of arterial stiffness in chronic severe inflammation along with Takayasu arteritis have been reviewed. Based on evidence, the associations between surrogate markers such as flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), and pulse wave velocity (PWV) and the duration of inflammation have been suggested in patients with chronic severe inflammatory diseases. It is plausible that evidence showed accelerated atheromatosis and arterial stiffening in patients with PSV including Takayasu arteritis (TA), Kawasaki disease (KD), and Behcet’s disease. The previous study demonstrated that inflammation in Takayasu arteritis may cause systemic atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. Inflammatory activity in Takayasu arteritis may be estimated using followed up by Doppler ultrasound (US), contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) suggesting that these findings may at least in part contribute to therapeutic strategy and determination of therapy effect.