Long-term outcome of 251 patients with Takayasu arteritis on combination immunosuppressant therapy: Single centre experience from a large tertiary care teaching hospital in Southern India

Our strategy of upfront combination immunosuppressant therapy stabilised disease activity in 92.8% of patients, while 7.2% had true refractory disease. Relapse free survival was 66% at 5 years and 52% at 10 years. Damage progression was arrested in 68% and only 2 fatalities were observed. Initial steroid dose of 0.5 mg/kg/day had similar efficacy as 1 mg/kg/day dose.