What is it?
Vasculitis refers to a rare group of conditions where there is inflammation of blood vessels. There are various different types of vasculitis, which can be classified according to the size of the blood vessels damaged, according to the part of the body affected, and also whether there is any underlying disease. It is also useful to know whether the patient has the ANCA antibody in the blood (anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody). Vasculitis can be divided accordingly in various ways:
Classifications
Whether it is localised or generalised
Vessel size
Underlying cause (eg drugs, infection, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis)
Whether the ANCA test is positive
There is a group of vasculitic conditions known as primary systemic vasculitis, so called because they affect the whole body (systemic), and are primary (there is no underlying condition). Examples of these conditions are Wegener’s granulomatosis, microscopic polyarteritis/polyangiitis and Churg-Strauss syndrome.
|
Vessel size, |
ANCA-positive |
ANCA-negative |
|
Large |
|
Giant cell arteritis
Takayasu’s arteritis |
|
Medium |
|
Polyarteritis nodosa
Kawasaki’s disease |
| Small |
Wegener’s granulomatosis
Microscopic polyarteritis
Churg-Strauss syndrome |
Henoch-Schonlein purpura
Hypersensitivity vasculitis
Cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis |