... G, Itaka Study Group: Takayasu’sarteritis: a study of 104 Italian patients. Arthritis Rheum 2005, 53:100-107.8. Okada K, Eishi K, Takamoto S, Ando M, Kosakai Y, Nakano K, Sasako Y, Kobayashi ... our sample to patients with a pathologic sampleallowed accurate diagnosis of the inflammation of the aor-tic wall and enhanced the study’s internal validity. Anotherlimitation of our database ... expected, aortic aneurysm and dissectionTable 1 Main indications for surgery of the ascending aorta in 1,210 patientsVariable a With pathological examination of aorta Without pathological examinationof...