Due to large group of diseases that bring inflammation in blood vessels, a condition called vasculitis occurs. In vasculitis the arteries, veins, and the capillaries are the specific blood vessels that get affected. This in turn could affect several parts of the body that leads to many kinds of symptoms.

Vasculitis can have a huge numbers of forms. Symptoms within vasculitis could include tiredness, joint pain, and fever. Central nervous vasculitis can lead to mental seizures and changes. There are huge numbers of potential causes that include immunologic and infectious diseases.

As vasculitis signifies inflaming the blood vessels, it could affect several parts of human body, and impact, where symptoms would depend on the part of human body it is affected. Vasculitis is also termed as arteritis and agiitis. It usually causes alterations in the blood vessel walls, where there may be scarring, thickening, narrowing, and weakening.

Vasculities could be chronic and long-term or short-term and acute. In certain cases, the organs within the blood may get affected, mainly in case they do not receive oxygen-rich blood, sufficient nutrient that eventually leads to damage of the organ, and sometime even death.

Diagnosis

Your physician will most likely begin with taking the medical history of you and conducting physical examination. The physician may take you through one or two procedures and tests to either identify if there are other conditions that are posing as vasculitis or it is vasculitis for sure. The tests and procedures included might include:

Blood tests: Through these tests, the signs indicating inflammation, like high level of protein that is C-reactive may be found. A complete diagnosis on the blood cell count can identify if there are enough red blood cells or RBC. Certain specific antibodies identified in blood cells help in diagnosis of vasculitis.

Imaging tests: Noninvasive techniques of imaging can always help in identifying which of the organs and blood vessels are affected. They can also help the physician monitor if the patient is responding to the treatment. Those tests for vasculitis are x-rays, CT scan, MRI, and positron emission tomography (PET).

Angiography or x-rays of blood vessels: while conducting this procedure, a flexible catheter, that resembles a thin straw, gets inserted into a large vein or artery. Then a special kind of dye is injected inside the catheter, and further x-rays are taken while the dye fills into the veins or arteries. The blood vessel outlines are visible on the x-rays as a result.

Biopsy: A surgical procedure where the physician removes a small tissue sample from the individual’s affected body area and examines this sample to identify if vasculitis symptoms reveal.

Suresh Hospital’s Treatment on Vasculitis

At Suresh Hospital, the treatment is focussed on controlling inflammation plus managing any kinds of underlying conditions that could trigger vasculitis.

There is a corticosteroid drug, like the prednisone, that is commonly prescribed to control vasculitis related inflammation. There are severe side effects of corticosteroids, especially if one takes them for a long time. The kind of side effects predominant weakened bones, diabetes, and weight gain.

Physicians may prescribe other medications along with corticosteroids so that the inflammation is under control, so that the corticosteroid dosage can be brought down faster. The specificity of the medicines will depend on how severe the individual’s vasculitis is, which are the organs involved, and if there are any other problems associated.

At certain conditions, the patient experiences aneurysm due to vasculitis – a ballooning or bulge in blood vessel walls. This bulge might need surgery so that the risk of rupturing is minimized. Blocking the arteries might also need certain surgical procedures so that the blood flow the areas affected can be restored.