VASCULITIS

Vasculitis is inflammation of the vessel wall; although there are frequently systemic manifestations (including fever, malaise, myalgias, and arthralgias), specific symptoms depend on the vascular bed that is involved.Vasculitis can result from infections, but it more commonly has an immunologic basis such as immune complex deposition, ANCAs, or anti-EC antibodies.Different forms of vasculitis tend to specifically affect vessels of a particular caliber and location

Vasculitis, or inflammation of vessel walls, occurs in diverse clinical settings. Depending on the vascular bed affected (e.g., central nervous system vs. heart vs. small bowel), the manifestations can be protean. Besides the findings referable to the specific tissue(s) involved, clinical manifestations common to these entities typically include constitutional signs and symptoms such as fever, myalgia, arthralgias, and malaise.

Vessels of any type in virtually any organ can be affected, and most vasculitides can affect all small vessels from arterioles to capillary to venules. Nevertheless, several of the vasculitides tend to affect only vessels of particular caliber or tissue beds; thus, there are vasculitic entities that primarily affect the aorta and medium-sized arteries, while others principally affect only smaller arterioles. Some 20 primary forms of vasculitis are recognized, and classifications schemes attempt (with variable success) to group them according to vessel size, role of immune complexes, presence of specific autoantibodies, granuloma formation, organ tropism, and even population demographics