Vascular surgery remains an important option in the management of Takayasu arteritis. Its use is predominantly confined the treatment of symptomatic organ ischaemia or life-threatening aneurysm formation. In most cases this follows the failure of medical therapy to prevent arterial injury. Open surgery and endovascular approaches are used. The choice between them, at least in part, is determined by the site and nature of the lesion. Although more invasive, open surgery offers enhanced duration of arterial patency. For endovascular intervention, primary angioplasty without stenting is preferred, with stenting reserved for primary or secondary angioplasty failures. Although there is increasing interest in the role of stent grafts and tailor-made endovascular stents, long-term outcomes remain to be reported. Interventional outcomes are improved and complications reduced by therapeutic control of disease activity pre-and post-surgery. The wider use of combined immunosuppression and the introduction of biologic therapy for refractory Takayasu arteritis may reduce future requirements for surgical intervention.