**2.7 Prognosis in adults and children**

A few studies conclude that the time lapsed from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis of the disease in a period between 2 and 11 years. The development of new drugs and the advances in surgical technology have been an important contribution to the control of disease activity but in spite of these developments, the management of childhood TA remains a challenge as diagnosis and treatment, late diagnosis and progressive disease course resistant to treatment may also cause poor prognosis. Some authors say that the worst prognosis is where patients had systemic and vascular inflammation, vascular lesions, major complications (such as retinopathy, renovascular hypertension, aortic regurgitation, and aortic aneurysm), and progressive course. Also, children under 5 years of age at the onset of the disease have a poor prognosis [2, 7, 11].

TA is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in young patients. Mortality rates vary according to several factors: geographical location, severity and extension of the lesions, treatment strategies, time of follow-up, and whether early or late series are described. Some publications show mortality rates ranging from 16 to 40%, but other ones rate mortality from 3% in the United States of America. Some common causes of death in TA include acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular accident, renal failure, hemorrhage, lung infection, postoperative complications, and aneurysm rupture [2, 11, 12, 15].
