Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography (US) in the detection and quantification of arterial involvement in Takayasu's arteritis (TA).
Methods: The common carotid and subclavian arteries, and the abdominal aorta of 15 patients with TA were studied by Color Doppler (CD) US and Doppler spectral analysis and compared with angiography.
Results: The mean difference (+/-SD) between the percent luminal stenoses measured at angiography and by CD US was 2.0+/-10.3% for the common carotid artery, 4.0+/-23.6% for the subclavian artery and -1.3+/-16.8% for the abdominal aorta. The differences were not statistically significant. However, the agreement of the methods was less than satisfactory as shown by the wide standard deviations.
Conclusions: More efforts are needed to improve the less than optimal agreement of US with angiography regarding the severity of individual stenoses. The technique performs best in the study of carotid arteries.