Publication:

Clinical and doppler monitoring of patients with Takayasu arteritis with ITAS 2010 and CDUS-K score respectively following medical intervention: a 12 months follow-up study

Background The objective of the present study was to monitor the disease activity of Takayasu arteritis clinically by the Indian Takayasu Activity Score 2010 (ITAS) and ultra sonographically by Colour Doppler Ultrasound-Kolkata (CDUS-K) Score after 12months of treatment with methotrexate and steroid, and to find the correlation between these two scores.

Methods Around 25 Angiographically proven Takayasu arteritis patients were treated with Methotrexate (15mg weekly) and Steroids (1mg/kg/day for 6weeks and then tapered) for 12months. Wilcoxon matched pair signed rank test was done to assess the change in ITAS 2010 with treatment. A correlation study was done between ITAS 2010 and change in CDUS-K scores at the end of 12months.

Results By Wilcoxon’s matched pair signed rank test, a non-significant change of ITAS 2010 (p=0.066) was observed at the end of 12months, which means that the treatment helps to control the disease progression by preventing a significant increase in ITAS 2010. Strong correlation (correlation coefficient of 0.878, 95% CI = 0.602 to 1.000) was found between the ITAS 2010 and change in CDUS-K scores at 12months follow up.

Conclusions The combination of Methotrexate and steroids helps to control the disease progression in Takayasu arteritis. Colour doppler ultrasonography may serve as a reliable and safe surrogate disease activity measure at follow up, as it avoids the radioactivity exposure and invasiveness of angiography.