Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels that causes damage by restricting blood flow. It has various symptoms like fever, headaches, and rash. The causes are not fully understood but may involve infections, immune system issues, or drugs. Diagnosis involves blood tests, biopsies, and imaging tests. Treatment focuses on reducing inflammation with corticosteroids and cytotoxic drugs.

1. Presentation by
Tolulope Sivebukola.

2. VASCULITIES

3. What is vasculities?
• Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels.
• It causes changes in the walls of blood vessels, including thickening,
weakening, narrowing and scarring.
• These changes restrict blood flow, resulting in organ and tissue
damage.
• Vasculitis is also known as angiitis and arteritis.

4. Signs and Syptoms
• General signs and symptoms of vasculitis include:
• Fever
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Weight loss
• General aches and pains
• Night sweats
• Rash
• Nerve problems, such as numbness or weakness
• Loss of a pulse in a limb

5. Cause(s)
• The exact cause of vasculitis isn't fully understood. Some types are related to a person's genetic
makeup. Others result from the immune system attacking blood vessel cells by mistake. Possible
triggers for this immune system reaction include:
• Infections, such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C
• Blood cancers
• Immune system diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and scleroderma
• Reactions to certain drugs
• Blood vessels affected by vasculitis may bleed or become inflamed. Inflammation can cause the
layers of the blood vessel wall to thicken. This narrows the blood vessels, reducing the amount of
blood — and therefore oxygen and vital nutrients — that reaches your body's tissues and organs.

6. Types
Different types of vasculitis will usually affect mainly one size of blood vessel.
• Takayasu's arteritis and Giant cell or Temporal arteritis are called large vessel
vasculitis because they mainly affect the aorta and the biggest arteries as they
branch off.
• Polyarteritis nodosa and Kawasaki disease are called medium vessel vasculitis
because they affect the middle sized arteries as they go into the organs.
• Most of the other types of vasculitis, such as Wegener's granulomatosis (GPA),
and Microscopic polyangiitis etc, are called small vessel vasculitis because
they cause inflammation in the smallest blood vessels, the capillaries, as they
supply the insides of the organs.

7. Takayasu
• Takayasu arteritis is a rare, systemic, inflammatory large-vessel
vasculitis of unknown etiology that most commonly affects women of
childbearing age.

8. • Takayasu arteritis can be divided into the following six types based on
angiographic involvement (see Workup) [2] :
• Type I - Branches of the aortic arch
• Type IIa - Ascending aorta, aortic arch, and its branches
• Type IIb - Type IIa region plus thoracic descending aorta
• Type III - Thoracic descending aorta, abdominal aorta, renal arteries,
or a combination
• Type IV - Abdominal aorta, renal arteries, or both
• Type V - Entire aorta and its branches

9. Giant cell
• Giant cell arteritis (GCA), or temporal arteritis, is a systemic
inflammatory vasculitis of unknown etiology that occurs in older
persons and can result in a wide variety of systemic, neurologic, and
ophthalmologic complications. GCA is the most common form of
systemic vasculitis in adults.
• GCA typically affects the superficial temporal arteries—hence the
term temporal arteritis. In addition, GCA most commonly affects the
ophthalmic, occipital, vertebral, posterior ciliary, and proximal
vertebral arteries. It has also been shown to involve medium- and
large-sized vessels, including the aorta and the carotid, subclavian,
and iliac arteries.

11. Polyarteritis Nodosa
• Classic polyarteritis nodosa (PAN or c-PAN) is a systemic vasculitis
characterized by necrotizing inflammatory lesions that affect
medium-sized and small muscular arteries, preferentially at vessel
bifurcations, resulting in microaneurysm formation, aneurysmal
rupture with hemorrhage, thrombosis, and, consequently, organ
ischemia or infarction.
• PAN, like other vasculitides, affects multiple systems and has protean
manifestations, although it most commonly affects skin, joints,
peripheral nerves, the gut, and the kidney.The lungs are usually
spared with PAN. A typical PAN patient might present with fever, night
sweats, weight loss, skin ulcerations or tender nodules, and severe
muscle and joint pains developing over weeks or months.

13. Kawasaki

14. Diagnosis
• Blood Tests
• Blood tests can show whether you have abnormal levels of certain blood cells and antibodies (proteins) in
your blood. These tests may look at:
• Hemoglobin and hematocrit. A low hemoglobin or hematocrit level suggests anemia, a complication of
vasculitis. Vasculitis can interfere with the body's ability to make enough red blood cells. Vasculitis also can
be linked to increased destruction of red blood cells.
• Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA). These antibodies are present in people who have certain
types of vasculitis.
• Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). A high ESR may be a sign of inflammation in the body.
• The amount of C-reactive protein (CRP) in your blood. A high CRP level suggests inflammation.

15. • Biopsy
• A biopsy often is the best way for your doctor to make a firm
diagnosis of vasculitis. During a biopsy, your doctor will take a small
sample of your body tissue to study under a microscope. He or she
will take the tissue sample from a blood vessel or an organ.
• A pathologist will study the sample for signs of inflammation or tissue
damage. A pathologist is a doctor who specializes in identifying
diseases by studying cells and tissues under a microscope.

16. • Urinalysis
• For this test, you'll provide a urine sample for analysis. This test detects
abnormal levels of protein or blood cells in the urine. Abnormal levels of these
substances can be a sign of vasculitis affecting the kidneys.
• EKG (Electrocardiogram)
• An EKG is a simple, painless test that records the heart's electrical activity. You
might have this test to show whether vasculitis is affecting your heart.

17. • Echocardiography
• Echocardiography is a painless test that uses sound waves to create a moving
picture of your heart. The test gives information about the size and shape of
your heart and how well your heart chambers and valves are working.
• Chest X Ray
• A chest x ray is a painless test that creates pictures of the structures inside
your chest, such as your heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Abnormal chest x-ray
results may show whether vasculitis is affecting your lungs or your large
arteries (such as the aorta or the pulmonary arteries).

18. • Computed Tomography Scan
• A computed tomography (to-MOG-rah-fee) scan, or CT scan, is a type of x ray
that creates more detailed pictures of your internal organs than a standard x
ray. The results from this test can show whether you have a type of vasculitis
that affects your abdominal organs or blood vessels.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test uses radio waves, magnets, and a
computer to create detailed pictures of your internal organs.

19. • Angiography
• Angiography is a test that uses dye and special x rays to show blood
flowing through your blood vessels.
• The dye is injected into your bloodstream. Special x-ray pictures are
taken while the dye flows through your blood vessels. The dye helps
highlight the vessels on the x-ray pictures.
• Doctors use angiography to help find out whether blood vessels are
narrowed, swollen, deformed, or blocked.

20. Treatment
• Common prescription medicines used to treat vasculitis include
corticosteroids and cytotoxic medicines.
• Corticosteroids help reduce inflammation in your blood vessels. Examples of
corticosteroids are prednisone, prednisolone, and methylprednisolone.
• Prescribe cytotoxic medicines if vasculitis is severe or if corticosteroids don't
work well. Cytotoxic medicines kill the cells that are causing the inflammation.
Examples of these medicines are azathioprine, methotrexate, and
cyclophosphamide.

21. • Other treatments may be used for certain types of vasculitis. For
example, the standard treatment for Kawasaki disease is high-dose
aspirin and immune globulin. Immune globulin is a medicine that’s
injected into a vein.
• Certain types of vasculitis may require surgery to remove aneurysms
that have formed as a result of the condition.

22. THANK YOU.