Cutaneous manifestations of Takayasu's arteritis. A clinicopathologic correlation.

Takayasu's arteritis is a chronic, granulomatous, large-vessel arteriopathy of unknown cause. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 38 patients with Takayasu's arteritis and identified 21 with cutaneous findings. Seven patients had lesions that were related to their systemic vasculitis. We found a Churg-Strauss granuloma, a pyodermatous leg ulcer, and inflammatory leg nodules in these patients. Biopsy specimens from three patients with presumed "erythema nodosum" did not support the clinical diagnosis but did show arteritis. In patients with Takayasu's arteritis, small-vessel inflammation, and other inflammatory lesions may be present, in addition to large-vessel disease. Histopathologic study is necessary to categorize the nature of inflammatory leg nodules of these patients.