Managing Systemic Vasculitis

Three new guidelines cover giant cell and Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, and ANCA-associated vasculitis.

Sponsoring Organization: American College of Rheumatology (ACR)

Background

The ACR has simultaneously released three separate guidelines on three forms of systemic vasculitis: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. Here, we present a few key points from each guideline that might be of interest to non-rheumatologists.

Selected Recommendations

(Note that nearly all these recommendations are rated as conditional, either because the relevant evidence is low quality, or because pros and cons of various approaches are closely balanced):

GCA:

Unilateral long-segment temporal artery biopsy still is recommended for initial diagnosis. However…

Reviewing Author

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose