Vasculitis Flashcards
What is vasculitis?
Inflammation of blood vessels
often with ischaemia,necrosis and organ damage
What is primary vasculitis
an autoimmune condition
What is secondary vasculitis
can have causes such as drugs ect
What systemic symptoms are common to all vasculitides
fever, mailaise, wt loss and fatigue
What are the two main large cell vascultis
Takayasu- under 40,F,more prevalent in Asians
Giant cell arteritis- over 50
Presenting features of giant cell arthritis
bruit(turbulent blood flow due to narrowing)- catotid artery most common
BP difference of extremities
Claudication
TA
associated with polymyalgia rheumatics
unilateral femoral head, scalp tenderness and jaw claudication
temporal artery prominent
risk of blindness
Investigations for GCA
ESR,plasma viscoity and CRP raised
temporal artery biopsy ( skip lesions so may be negative
What are the advantages of different imaging techniques?
MRi- shows structural changes. Has it narrowed?
PET CT scanning shows cells that are metobiotically active
Management of GCA
40-60MG prednisone
steroid sparing agents may be considered
GCA can lead to blindness T/F
T
A higher dose of prednisone is used if there is visual loss T/F
T
Steroids should be started once a positive temporal artery biopsy result is obtained T/F
F- start once suspect
GPA
Granulomatous inflammation of respiratory tract
What is ANCA
auto-antibodies against antigens in the cytoplasm of neutrophil granulocytes
