NIH Public Access Author Manuscript Circulation. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 October 9. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptPublished NIH-PA Author Manuscript in final edited NIH-PA Author Manuscript form as: Circulation. 2008 June 10; 117(23): 3039±3051. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.760686. Aortitis Heather L. Gornik, M.D., M.H.S. and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University Medical Director, Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory Department of Cardiovascular Medicine The Cleveland Clinic Foundation 9500 Euclid Avenue/Desk S60 Cleveland, Ohio 44120 (216) 445-3689
[email protected] Mark A. Creager, M.D.* Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Simon C. Fireman Scholar in Cardiovascular Medicine Director, Vascular Center Brigham and Women's Hospital 75 Francis Street Boston, Massachusetts 02115 (617) 732-5267
[email protected] Keywords Aortitis; vasculitis; giant cell arteritis; Takayasu arteritis; aortic aneurysm Aortitis is the all-encompassing term ascribed to inflammation of the aorta. The most common causes of aortitis are the large vessel vasculitides, giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu arteritis, although it is also associated with several other rheumatologic diseases. Infectious aortitis is a rare but potentially life-threatening disorder. In some cases, aortitis is an incidental finding at the time of histopathologic examination following surgery for aortic aneurysm. As the clinical presentation of aortitis is highly variable, the cardiovascular clinician must have a high index of suspicion to establish an accurate diagnosis of this disorder in a timely fashion. In this manuscript, we review the pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnostic approach, and management of aortitis.