Ultrasound in Vasculitis

Ultrasound in vasculitis

Image result for vasculitis ultrasound

Full Papers; Authors: Wolfgang A. Schmidt
clinexprheumatol.org

Role of ultrasound in the understanding and management of vasculitis

Image result for ultrasound temporal vasculitis

Vasculitis is characterized by a circumferential vessel-wall thickening (‘halo’),…
journals.sagepub.com

Ultrasonography of Large-Vessel Vasculitides

Vasculitis is an autoimmune disease that is characterized by vascular wall inflammation, resulting in an inflamed arterial wall that is swollen and a narrow lumen. Ultrasonography…
jmu-online.com

Takayasu Arteritis Imaging: Overview, Radiography, Ultrasonography

emedicine.medscape.com

Assessment of Takayasu Arteritis Activity by Carotid Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

Figure 2.

A 35-year-old woman was admitted to our institute with a 5-year history of fatigue and low-grade fever. Six months…
circimaging.ahajournals.org

Diagnostic validity of Doppler ultrasound in giant cell arteritis

 Image result for ultrasound temporal vasculitisImage result for ultrasound temporal vasculitis

Full Papers; Authors: I. Concepción Aranda-Valera, Sara García Carazo, Irene Monjo Henry, Eugenio De Miguel Mendieta
clinexprheumatol.org

Ultrasound-Based Vasculitis Diagnosis May Save Vision

Fast-track outpatient clinic for giant cell arteritis also cuts inpatient days
medpagetoday.com

Rheumatological ultrasound is more than just musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS). The latter finds its proponents among sports physicians, orthopods, physiatrists and physiotherapists. The rheumatologists’ special interest and expertise in MSUS is in the inflammatory arthritides.

As evident in my earlier posts, rheumatologists are also interested in sounding salivary glands, lymph nodes, lungs and skin. Today, we take a look at blood vessels. All these emerging niche areas pertain to the range of systemic connective tissue diseases.

Among the vasculitides, the best studied using ultrasound are the large vessel arteritis, namely: Takayasu Arteritis and Giant Cell Arteritis. These 2 are particularly hard to diagnose and to monitor. Hard to diagnose because they lack specific serologies, lesions may be skipped, and the large blood vessels are not readily amenable to biopsy. Hard to monitor as inflammatory markers don’t always reflect disease activity, and it is often difficult to differentiate the latter from old damage.

Imaging is therefore the mainstay. If ultrasound can be reliably refined for diagnosis and monitoring, then much cost and radiation (think PET & CT scans) can be saved in routine practice. We’re getting there.