Vasculitis other diagnostic studies

Vasculitis
Overview
Classification Large-sized vessel vasculitis Takayasu's Arteritis Temporal Arteritis Medium-sized vessel vasculitis Kawasaki's Disease Polyarteritis Nodosa Small-sized vessel vasculitis Churg-Strauss Syndrome Cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis Essential cryoglobulinemic vasculitis Henoch-Schonlein Purpura Microscopic polyangiitis Wegener's Granulomatosis Variable-sized vessel vasculitis Sjogren syndrome Cogan syndrome Single organ vasculitis Primary central nervous system angiitis
Causes
Differential Diagnosis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor-In-Chief: M.Umer Tariq [2]

Other Diagnostic Studies

• Electromyography. It is useful if a systemic vasculitis is suspected and neuromuscular symptoms are present.

• Tissue biopsy. This is the gold standard of diagnosis when biopsy is taken from the most involved area.
  • Temporal artery biopsy showing vasculitis with mononuclear cell infiltrate or granulomatous inflammation, usually with multinucleated giant cells - Giant cell (temporal) arteritis
  • Arterial biopsy showing polymorphonuclear cells - Polyarteritis nodosa
  • Vessel biopsy shows granulomatous inflammation - Wegener's granulomatosis
  • Leptomeningeal biopsy - Isolated CNS vasculitis