Vasculitis- Causes and Treatment For Vasculitis

Vasculitis means an inflammation caused to blood vessels.

There are different kinds of vasculitis and most types are rare
and causes are generally unknown. It can affect person of both
the sexes and a broad range of ages. Lets understand in detail
what this disease is all about:
The disease refers to inflammation of the blood vessels, which
include arteries and veins. This can result into poor blood flow
to the tissues and throughout the body parts like lungs, nerves
and skin. It has a wide range of symptoms like:
Symptoms for vasculitis
Shortness of breath and cough
Weakness in hand or foot
Red spots on the skin
The disease can be mild or life-threatening or it may even lead
to death. Patients suffering from one episode of this disease or
may have repeated episodes for several years. Mostly, it is a
rare disorder.



Causes
Exactly the cause of this disease is unknown. Genetic factors
are responsible for this disease. It is an auto-immune disorder
that means the body attacks its own immune system. In this
disease, the blood vessels are affected. Some cases of this
disease are caused by allergic reaction to the medicine. Also,
some chronic infections like Hepatitis C or B, can cause this
disease. It is a part of other rheumatic diseases like systematic
lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, erythematosus and Sjogrens
syndrome. Most of the patients suffering from this disease has
no one of this disorder.
Who is at risk?
The disease can attack persons of both age and sexes. A few
forms affect certain kind of people like for example, Kawasaki
disease occurs in children. It is much more common in children
and in adults.

Types
The disease can be categorized as:
Giant cell arthritis
Kawasaki disease
Polyarteritis nodosa
Behcets disease
Relapsing polychondritis
Takayasu's arteritis
Aortitis in Cogan's syndrome
Aortitis in spondylarthropathies
Isolated aortitis
Diagnosis of disease
For most of the patients, doctors can detect this kind of disease
based on the affected or inflamed blood vessels and the organs
involved. To find small vessel disease, doctor may conduct
biopsy of skin or a kidney. Detection of medium sized vasculitis
happens by the help of biopsy or angiography. Angiography is a
test that helps to detect large vessel vasculitis. Detecting giant
cell also includes biopsy of an artery or the scalp. A few types
of this disease like Behcets disease and Kawasaki are detected
on basis of clinical findings rather than biopsy or angiography.
Some blood tests also suggest of a certain kind of this disease
and the positive sign is an indication that the doctors need to
conduct the test. The most useful kind of test includes
antineutrophil cytoplasic antibodies. A positive ANCA test
detects the kind of disease present like granulomatosis and
polyangitis, etc. Other lab tests can detect the damage caused
to the organs, but tests are enough to prove this disease.

Treatment for vasculitis
Glucocorticoids- It is also called as steroids and it is an
important way to treat the disease. The dose and length of the
disease depends upon severity of the condition and how long
the patient had it. These drugs reduce inflammation, but it has
long-term side effects.
Other Drugs- Doctors sometimes may prescribe immune
suppressing drugs as their side effects are less serious than
glucosteroids. This disease is also called as steroid sparing
treatment. Cyclophosphamide is the strongest among these
drugs and doctors may prescribe it in case of life-threatening
condition.
For less severe disease, the patients may receive medications
like Methotrexate and Azathioprine and other immune
suppressing drugs. Doctors may prescribe these drugs to treat
rheumatoid disorder, but they are beneficial for vasculitis too.
Newer drugs are helpful to treat other autoimmune and
inflammatory disease. The researcher has found that one
among these drugs, include rituximab to treat the severe case
of these diseases.
Surgery-Last but not the least; damage to severe form of this
disease requires surgery. It may involve vascular bypass
grafting- a surgery that redirects the blood flow around the
vessel blockage. Depending upon the damage, other operations
that can be performed include sinus surgery and kidney
transplant.
The disease may even lead to permanent or long term
disability.