Vasculitis

Vasculitis covers a heterogeneous group of diseases with an even more heterogeneous clinical presentation. Inflammation of the blood vessels can have local and systemic manifestations. The classification of vasculitis is based partly on the size of the blood vessel, partly on the histological picture and partly on the clinical presentation. Some types of vasculitis are typical of a certain age, others of one sex, and there are also ethnic and clinical differences. Vasculitis is sometimes part of another inflammatory rheumatic disease, a malignancy or a haematological disease, and sometimes a disease in its own right.

The most common vasculitis is temporal arteritis, which is associated with polymyalgia rheumatica; Takayasu arteritis is also common. Medium-vessel vasculitides are polyarteritis nodosa and Kawasaki disease. Small-vessel vasculitides associated with immune complexes are Goodpasture's syndrome and Henoch–Schönlein purpura. ANCA-associated vasculitides include Wegener's granulomatosis and Churg–Strauss syndrome. One of the typical vasculitides affecting blood vessels of various sizes is Behçet's disease. A separate group of vasculitides is associated with inflammatory rheumatic diseases: lupus, rheumatoid and sarcoid vasculitis. Some vasculitides, such as those associated with hepatitis B or C infection or syphilis, and those associated with medicines and malignant diseases (cancers), form yet another group.