These findings could provide useful information on the clinical features, angiographic findings, and outcomes in TA, particularly on the assessment of patients at risk of a poor outcome.

Serum IL-18 and IL-6 levels were elevated in patients with TA, especially in those with active disease. Serum IL-18 levels correlated well with disease activity of TA. These results suggest that IL-6 and IL-18 might contribute to the pathogenesis of TA and that IL-18 could be a useful marker for monitoring disease activity of TA.

Restenosis occurred in 31.7% of TA patients after intervention. A lower restenosis rate was observed when the vascular interventions were performed at the stable stage and when post-interventional immunosuppressive treatment was implemented.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of glucocorticoid-induced diabetes mellitus (GDM) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) receiving high-dose glucocorticoid therapy. Patients with SLE who had received high-dose glucocorticoid therapy (prednisolone ≥1 mg/kg/day) at Yonsei University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, were recruited between January 1999 and June 2009. In total 127 patients with SLE were evaluated. Sixteen (12.6%) of them developed GDM after high-dose glucocorticoid therapy (95% confidence interval, 6.8-18.4%). Univariate analysis showed that old age, family history of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, higher body mass index, higher mean dose of prednisolone before high-dose glucocorticoid therapy, and concurrent use of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) were factors that would increase the likelihood of GDM. Multivariate analysis determined that age, family history of DM, mean dose of prednisolone before high-dose glucocorticoid therapy and concurrent use of MMF were independent associated factors for GDM. In summary, GDM was developed among 12.6% of patients with SLE after high-dose glucocorticoid therapy. Old age, family history of DM, higher mean dose of prednisolone before high-dose glucocorticoid therapy and concurrent use of MMF were determined to be factors responsible for increasing the risk of developing GDM.

To investigate whether the ratio of mitral peak velocity of early filling (E) to early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E') (E/E' ratio) can detect left ventricular diastolic dysfunction more sensitively than the ratio of E to mitral peak velocity of late filling (A) (E/A ratio) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A total of 137 patients with SLE were investigated and compared with 110 age-matched and sex-matched controls retrospectively. Two-dimensional echocardiography and M-mode echocardiography including conventional and tissue Doppler imaging were performed. There were no differences in the left ventricle ejection fractions and the mean E/A ratio between the two groups. However, the mean E/E' ratio of patients was higher than that of the controls (10.4 +/- 4.0 vs 7.7 +/- 2.1, P < 0.01). Significantly higher left ventricle ejection fractions and lower E/E' ratio were found in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker than those not receiving (P < 0.05). Our study showed that the E/E' ratio is more sensitive than the E/A ratio for detection of the left ventricle diastolic dysfunction. Furthermore, patients who had received angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker treatment showed significantly better preservation of both systolic and diastolic function of left ventricle in comparison with those who had not received.