Autoimmune vasculitis is an inflammation of the walls of blood vessels. A damaged immune system affects those that are located in the dermis on the surface, as well as in the deep layer and internal organs. Many patients do not know what kind of disease it is - vasculitis. Photos of patients with this disease will be presented below.
Factors affecting the development of this pathology are allergic agents that are continuously acting on the human body. For example, we are talking about medicines, fluff and pollen of plants, house dust and book dust. Infectious chronic ailments are also capable of causing the disease (affected tooth along with otitis media, tonsillitis, mycosis). In children, autoimmune vasculitis may occur due to an allergy to the vaccine. The problem may also be in a hereditary immunodeficiency state, which is not always diagnosed at an early stage of development. Consider this disease in more detail.
Symptoms
Autoimmune vasculitis, as a rule, manifests itself with a prolonged effect of the agent on immunity, causing aggression against the walls of blood vessels. The symptomatology of the pathology directly depends on the form and variety, of which there are quite a lot. The early signs are similar to the manifestation of most inflammatory and infectious diseases, so patients may experience fever along with weakness, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, and so on.
The symptoms of autoimmune vasculitis are quite unpleasant. With the development of the pathological process, there are manifestations of the primary and secondary forms of the disease. The first type involves an independent disease, which consists in vascular inflammation, which is associated with an immune origin. The secondary form is a consequence and a sign of a certain autoimmune malfunction in the body, and also often results from infections, helminth infections, toxins, chemical drugs, radiation, and the like. Among the systemic pathologies, the symptoms of which may be the disease described by us, it is worth mentioning diabetes along with lupus erythematosus and sarcoidosis.
Next, find out if vasculitis is an autoimmune disease or not.
Causes
Doctors still can not determine the provocateurs of the disease in question. First of all, there is an opinion that autoimmune vasculitis is hereditary and associated with impaired immunity, plus all kinds of negative factors play a role along with infection with Staphylococcus aureus. What can happen to the causes of the disease? This is for example:
- The result of an allergic reaction to medical drugs, pollen, dust, fluff and so on.
- The effect of autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus, thyroid pathology.
- The factor of vaccination and abuse of sunbathing.
- The consequence of the injury along with the negative reaction of the body to various chemicals, as well as poisons.
- Hypothermia of the body.
Diagnostics
The sooner an examination is made, a diagnosis is established and treatment is started, the patient has more chances to avoid damage to important organs and a malfunction of their functions. If necessary, doctors appoint patients with consultations of such specialists as a vascular surgeon, therapist, ophthalmologist, neurologist, otolaryngologist and others. The diagnosis is usually made on the basis of a number of the following data:
- A physical examination.
- Perform lab tests.
Analyzes for autoimmune vasculitis should be taken as follows:
- General blood test (in this case, patients usually notice an increase in ESR).
- Conducting a biochemical blood test (study of the state of protein fractions).
- Taking immunological samples (study of gamma globulin, C-reactive protein, rheumatoid factors and more).
- Blood donation for HBsAg in case of suspected viral hepatitis.
In addition, instrumental methods can be used in the form of ultrasound dopplerography, radiography, angiography (in this case, blood vessels are examined using contrast agents) and computed tomography.
What is the treatment for symptoms of autoimmune vasculitis?
Therapy of this pathology
Can this disease be cured? This is a fairly common question that is asked to rheumatologists. A favorable prognosis should be expected only if the therapy is started in a timely manner at an early stage, until the disease passes into the so-called chronic type.
Treatment of vasculitis, a photo of the manifestations of which can be found on specialized resources, will differ depending on the type of pathology. In addition, doctors take into account the underlying disease (when the disease is secondary), along with the degree of spread of the pathogenic process and the involvement of tissues and internal organs. The main objective is to prevent life-threatening complications. For therapy, many different methods are used. Symptoms and treatment of autoimmune vasculitis, like most ailments, are interconnected.
Doctors may prescribe the following drugs to patients:
- Immunosuppressants that inhibit autoimmunity.
- Cytostatics that stop the development of immune inflammation.
- Drugs that prevent blood clots.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs and hormonal drugs.
Plasmapheresis procedures can be prescribed, which are aimed at cleansing organs and systems, as well as blood from toxins. It should be borne in mind that this is a very serious disease, the effective treatment of which should take place strictly under the supervision of a rheumatologist.
It is impossible to answer unequivocally to the question: โVasculitis is an autoimmune disease or not?โ Consider the features of its course in adults.
The manifestation of this disease in adults
The disease, depending on age, manifests itself in various forms. For example, adults have skin, systemic, allergic, urticarial and cryoglobulinemic autoimmune vasculitis. As for children, they are more likely to encounter Kawasaki syndrome and a hemorrhagic type of pathology. Let's talk more about these varieties in more detail.
Cutaneous vasculitis
Skin vasculitis - what is this disease? Symptoms (see photo at the beginning of the review) of this ailment are caused by the fact that this form of the disease affects the vessels of the dermis of small and medium diameter, but does not affect the capillaries of the internal organs. They diagnose it with a biopsy, since skin vasculitis is similar in appearance to some diseases:
- Capillary outflow (purpura).
- Damage to blood vessels of the skin (petechiae).
- Nodules and urticaria.
- The formation of mesh levedo due to stagnation in the blood capillaries.
Skin vasculitis can develop against a background of systemic abnormalities, and then the symptoms will be supplemented by fever and joint pain.
Allergic type
This type of autoimmune vasculitis is manifested by the following symptoms:
- The appearance of nodules, hemorrhagic, erythematous spots and rashes.
- The development of a heart attack of the skin, resulting in the formation of a dark crust in the rash area.
- Hemorrhage under the toenails.
- The presence of pain in the joints and muscles.
- Burning, constricting discomfort or itching in areas of rash.
The allergic form is mainly manifested by a rash on the hips, feet, legs, and with a generalized nature, visual manifestations on the trunk and forearms are added. Allergic vasculitis includes inductive erythema of Bazin, acute and chronic erythema nodosum, Behcet's syndrome, temporal angiitis, which have specific symptoms.
Nodular acute erythema is characterized by a large size of the nodes with a change in skin color under them, usually from red to green. Behcet's disease affects mainly the mucous membranes of the eye, mouth and skin with the formation of ulcers and erosion. With the appearance of temporal or senile angiitis, older women may suffer from prolonged pain in the temple area.
Systemic nature
This kind of pathology occurs against the background of disturbances in the immune mechanisms in various systemic diseases, which are characterized by damage to the connective tissues (with rheumatism, granulomatosis, lupus erythematosus, and more). In this case, with the disease, there are such signs:
- Destructive changes in the walls of the vessels of the respiratory system.
- Ulcerated granulomas on the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and bronchi.
- The appearance of glomerulonephritis.
- The occurrence of severe complications on the internal organs, skin, organs of vision and the nervous system.
With rheumatism, the pathology spreads to the whole body and manifests itself depending on the stage of the disease. In addition to the skin, the vascular system of the internal organs and brain is affected, followed by the danger of bleeding.
Cryoglobulinemic autoimmune type
One of the varieties of the systemic form of the disease is cryoglobulinemic autoimmune vasculitis; with it, cryoglobulins appear in blood cells, which are deposited on the walls of blood vessels and destroy them.
The disease is characterized by a progressive course, and its characteristic symptom (in addition to common for all types of the disease) is a violation of sensitivity and damage to peripheral nerves. In the absence of adequate treatment, cryoglobulinemic vasculitis can cause the patient to lose speech and sometimes leads to motor paralysis.
We continue to consider the classification of vasculitis.
Upticar type
In another way, it is also called angiitis, which acts as one of the allergic pathologies characterized by chronic inflammation of the surface vessels of the skin. At the initial stage of development, the disease is often diagnosed as a chronic urticaria. The following symptoms are characteristic of the disease:
- A wave-like course along with the appearance on the skin of hemorrhagic nodes, spots, blisters.
- Burning sensation in the affected area.
- The appearance of headache, discomfort in the joints, muscles, lower back and abdomen.
- Fever and glomerulonephritis.
The disease is diagnosed by immunofluorescence and through histological examination of the affected area of โโthe dermis.
In children
This pathology in babies is quite rare. However, all varieties differ in characteristic flow characteristics. Treatment of vasculitis in children should be comprehensive and timely.
Kawasaki Syndrome
This systemic form of autoimmune vasculitis is most often diagnosed in children under seven years of age and is characterized by damage to the vessels of the lymph nodes, heart and mucous membrane of the respiratory system. The clinical picture is characterized by an acute rapid onset with a temperature of thirty-eight to forty-one degrees and the following symptoms (in the order of gradual appearance):
- The occurrence of debilitating fever.
- Damage to the skin with a scarlet-like rash with the presence of erythematic plaques.
- Damage to the mucous membrane of the respiratory system, nose, and eyes.
- The appearance of thickening and redness of the skin on the palms.
- Enlarged lymph nodes in the neck and raspberry-colored tongue.
- The presence of peeling of the skin around the nails, and, in addition, on the phalanges of the fingers.
- Damage to the cardiac and vascular systems in the acute phase, aneurysms.
Doctors cure this condition under condition of timely diagnosis, and its consequences are eliminated, as a rule, after five to eight years.
Autoimmune hemorrhagic vasculitis
It is worth noting that in adults this type of pathology can be caused by various deviations during pregnancy, diabetic nephropathy, cirrhosis, malignant neoplasms. And the cause of this form of illness in children is often upper respiratory tract infections, along with measles, paratyphoid, drug or food allergies. Hemorrhagic vasculitis in young patients is divided into the following forms: cutaneous, cutaneous-articular, abdominal, renal and cutaneous-renal types. Each of them has its own specific symptoms:
- With the skin form, pronounced edema can be noted as a result of cold urticaria, purpura, rashes on the feet with a gradual spread to the hips. In addition, joint pain is noted.
- The abdominal form suggests a severe course in children with severe abdominal pain localized near the navel.
- The renal form indicates the presence of globulins and proteins in the urine.
Hemorrhagic vasculitis is extremely dangerous with all kinds of complications, a tendency to generalization, that is, to spread to the vascular system of internal organs and to relapse.
Diagnosis of hemorrhagic type of disease
The main clinical signs in the framework of the diagnosis of the disease are skin palpable hemorrhages, the patient's age is not more than twenty years, and, in addition, migratory abdominal pain. Laboratory criteria are:
- The establishment of granulocytes in the biopsy of arterioles.
- Study of increasing concentrations of the IgA immunocomplex.
- In the presence of a renal form, patients exhibit macrohematuria in combination with proteinuria.
How to treat autoimmune vasculitis of this type, it is better to find out in advance.
Treatment of hemorrhagic vasculitis
Given the pathogenesis of the disease, drugs that interfere with the formation of blood clots are used in the treatment. For example, we are talking about antiplatelet agents, modern heparins and fibrinolysis activators. In severe cases, doctors use plasmapheresis and glucocorticoids are used.
Limb disease
Such a pathology as vasculitis of the extremities is different in that different organs and tissues are involved in the pathological process. The most common cause is vascular inflammation. The manifestations of an ailment in the form of subcutaneous hemorrhage look. In this regard, many patients try to cure the manifestation of vasculitis on the legs as soon as possible. Due to damage to the blood lines in the human body, processes are launched during which the narrowing of blood vessels occurs with the death of some tissues.
How can this limb ailment be cured?
First of all, patients must pass all the required tests, which will certainly indicate the form of pathology and various characteristics of the body, which is very important as part of the appointment of therapy. Attributed to a course of treatment by a dermatologist. They are also assigned a comprehensive diagnosis. Before using any means, you need to consult a doctor, otherwise the disease will only worsen. There are several treatment methods: folk remedies, along with medications and prevention, which can improve the functioning of the immune system. What vasculitis looks like in adults in the photo can be viewed on specialized resources.
Drug treatment
This type of fight against the disease involves the use of drugs, whose action is aimed at suppressing the inflammatory process inside the vessels. Medications should completely eliminate any pathological symptoms.
For treatment, a group of drugs is usually prescribed, which consists of anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Indomethacin, Cyclophosphamide, and the prednisolone glucocorticosteroid. In addition, to strengthen the vessels required to take "Dicinon" and "Ascorutin." Along with this, the permeability of blood vessels is minimized thanks to "Prodectin", which also prevents the appearance of blood clots.
In the case of a knotty erythematous form, an additional antiallergic agent is connected. It may be "Suprastin" or "Telfast." Often, immunosuppressants in combination with vasodilator drugs and coagulants are prescribed to improve effectiveness.
Home Remedies
What else does adult vasculitis treatment suggest?
In folk medicine, there are many recipes that can cope with this ailment:
- For example, a herbal infusion is perfect. The ingredients for its preparation are nettles along with knotweed, elderberry flowers, millennial grass, Japanese Sophora berries and water. All components are added in the amount of four spoons. During preparation, the dry ingredients are crushed and thoroughly mixed. One glass of the resulting mixture is poured with boiling water and left for an hour. Next, the liquid is filtered. The resulting infusion should be consumed twice a day on top of it.
- An infusion of lingonberry, violet and a string is also suitable. The ingredients are: string, violet, water and lingonberry. All components are added in the amount of three spoons.The dry mixture is crushed and mixed. After that, two tablespoons of it are poured with water. The tool is insisted in a dark place for at least an hour, then filtered. It must be drunk four times in half a tablespoon.
- Another effective folk remedy for vasculitis on the legs is an ointment, whose components include one glass of birch buds and half a kilogram of nutritive fat. The kidneys are ground into powder. In the event that they are fresh, then into the pulp. The mass is added to nutria fat. Then the mixture is transferred to a clay pot. Every day for a week the medicine is put in the oven at a minimum temperature for three hours. After that, it is poured into tightly closed jars. Store the drug in a dark place that should be cool. The product is applied to the skin once a day immediately before bedtime. Use it should be until complete recovery.
Complications
As noted earlier, the disease is quite serious and can lead to dangerous consequences in the form of insufficient renal function, pulmonary hemorrhage, polyneuropathy, abscesses of the abdominal cavity, as well as intestinal invagination.
Prevention
Prevention of disease progression and exacerbations includes the rehabilitation of foci of infection (for example, caries or chronic tonsillitis). It is necessary to additionally guard against any hypothermia, harmful production factors and excessive physical exertion. It is equally important to exclude contact with allergens, to stop smoking and drinking alcohol.
We examined the symptoms and treatment of vasculitis. The reasons for the development of pathology can be very diverse. Sometimes the occurrence of this disease is associated with infection with certain viral infections. The effect of allergic diseases is not excluded. But most often the appearance of this ailment is associated with chronic autoimmune diseases. In the case of the presence of characteristic signs and a rash, you must consult a doctor, since early diagnosis will prevent the development of a chronic form of pathology.