title: Sudden Death Due to Unusual Complication of Takayasu Arteritis: An Autopsy Case.
abstract: Takayasu arteritis is an uncommon inflammatory disease with usually a good prognosis. However, sometimes, the evolution can be fatal essentially by a coronary arteries involvement. We present a case of a 19-year-old woman who died suddenly from cardiogenic shock complicating an unknown Takayasu arteritis.At the autopsy, the aorta showed a significant thickening of the wall. The coronary arteries were slightly thickened and did not show any occlusion. Microscopic examination of the aorta showed an abundant granulomatous and a lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate. Microscopic sections of other internal organs showed signs of cardiac hypertrophy and an extensive edema of the lung. Death was attributed to acute heart failure complicating a supravalvular aortic stenosis secondary to unknown Takayasu arteritis.Takayasu arteritis can be life-threatening by an occlusion of the ascending aorta and its major branches, without any coronary arteries involvement.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Legal Medicine, †Pathology, and ‡Hospital Hygiene, Farhat Hached University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia; and §Department of Legal Medicine, Ibn El jazzar University Hospital, Kairouan, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jedidi
authors.forename: Youssef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chkirbene
authors.forename: Nihed
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abdessayed
authors.forename: Tasnim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masmoudi
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahjoub
authors.forename: Souheil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mlayeh
authors.forename: Mohamed Ben
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Dhiab
authors.forename: Mohamed Kamel
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Souguir
authors.forename: Mohamed Taher
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Yacoubi
mesh_terms: D001020:Aortic Stenosis, Subvalvular / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000473:pathology; D012770:Shock, Cardiogenic / Q000209:etiology; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D055815:Young Adult