Ischemic injury of colon mucosa as a first manifestation of Takayasu arteritis in a young female patient: challenges in the differential diagnosis

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a type of chronic large vessel vasculitis, which most often affects the aorta and its main branches as a kind of destructive-productive segmental aortitis and subaortic panarteritis, with possible obliteration of their orifices. Clinical picture of TA may be different depending on the nature and localization of the pathological process. We present a clinical case of ischemic injury of the colon mucosa in TA in a young (21 year old) female patient after she had a novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Due to ineffectiveness of out-patient treatment of ulcerative colitis, as well as complaints that were not meeting the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, the patient was referred for additional examination and treatment modification in inpatient settings. Taking into account her diarrheal syndrome at the disease onset, the ileocolonoscopy results (rectal and colonic erosions), the results of histological examination (diffuse leukocytic infiltration of the mucosa, lymphoid infiltration of submucosa of the colon), elevation of proinflammatory markers, involvement of the inferior mesenteric artery at ultrasound dopplerography, the differential diagnosis was made between the TA overlap syndrome with inflammatory bowel diseases and TA-associated ischemic colitis. The assessment results made it possible to exclude inflammatory bowel diseases, to establish the diagnosis of TA and to consider colonic mucosa abnormalities as ischemic with underlying disease. The clinical case described is a rare event of intestinal ischemia as a first TA manifestation. Given the increasing worldwide prevalence of TA, especially after the new coronavirus infection pandemic, it is necessary to include this rare cause of gastrointestinal vasculitis to the differential diagnostic search, since mesenteric ischemia is one of the main causes of death in AT patients.