Talk:Vasculitis

From Academic Kids

Would atherosclerosis qualify as a vasculitis ? There is a lot of inflammation, too.
PFHLai 13:13, 2004 May 20 (UTC)

Okay, please make it more specific. Atherosclerosis is not considered vasculitis, really... JFW | T@lk 18:40, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

Atherosclerosis vs Vasculitis

Frankly, Dr. Wolff, I don't know much about Atherosclerosis or Vasculitis. I was hoping to find out their differences from this page on Vasculitis, or the one on Atherosclerosis. Based on what I have read so far, I am under the impression that:

1. vasculitis is rare, whereas a person without atherosclerosis is more rare
2. endothelial dysfunction does not seem to be involved in vasculitis, whereas atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction have a "chicken-&-egg" relationship -- no one knows which one starts first ...
3. fatty deposits in all atherosclerotic lesions, but not in vasculitis
4. vasculitis is severe and acute, but can be cured, whereas atherosclerosis progresses silently, is chronic and is irreversible.
5. the odd patient with vasculitis seeks medical attention for the inflammation and the associated pain and fever, whereas patients with atherosclerosis need medical attention for serious problems secondary to the lesion: stroke, chest pain due to cardiac insufficiency, etc. (often too late)

Am I correct ? Should atherosclerosis be considered a special case of slow-progressing vasculitis that is induced/accelerated by fatty deposits in the vessel wall ? Can vasculitic lesions in at a young age become or induce atherosclerotic lesions later in life ? I am looking forward to reading more on vasculitis as your page on this disease grows. Thank you.
PFHLai 03:36, 2004 May 21 (UTC)

Patrick, most of this stuff is still quite new for me, and I'm learning about vasculitis by working on this stuff. I can therefore not really answer your questions.

Still, it appears that vasculitis and atherosclerosis are two different processes which overlap. Vasculitis patients do suffer from accelerated atherosclerosis (the typical lupus patient dies vascularily) and there are plenty of theories that claim atherosclerosis is a chlamydial disease. I wouldn't doubt for a moment that vasculitis causes endothelial dysfunction.

A review we might both have to read is: Juvonen T, Juvonen J, Savolainen MJ. Is vasculitis a significant component of atherosclerosis? Curr Opin Rheumatol 1999 Jan;11:3-10, PMID [9894624 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9894624).

I hope we can clarify this together. I find wiki-editing an educational experience for reasons like these! JFW | T@lk 09:14, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

Oh, yes, Dr. Wolff, wiki-editing has been a very good educational experience for me, too. But I have been spending more time reading than typing. Let me read more and I'll see what I can add.

I agree that vasculitis and atherosclerosis are two different processes which overlap. An atherosclerotic lesion is indeed a blood vessel with inflammation, i.e. 'vascul' + 'itis'. Before I saw your page on vasculitis, vasculitis and atherosclerosis were the same thing to me ! I am still under the impression that atherosclerosis is a slow-progressing form of vasculitis involving lipid deposits in the vessel wall. I don't know much about the chlamydia hypothesis, but I think any significant damage to the endothelium, such as a chlamydia infection in the vessel wall, may lead to atherosclerosis. I'd better read more ...

Thank you for the reference by Juvonen et al..

PFHLai 17:10, 2004 May 21 (UTC)

Vasculitis is definitely a distinct process, and the main question (addressed by Juvonen et al and in lots of other work) and whether atherosclerosis is a form of vasculitis or not. The nomenclature is confusing, of course there is inflammation of the vessel wall in atherosclerosis... Interestingly, a recent clinical trial failed to prove effectiveness of antichlamydial antibiotics in atherosclerosis patients... JFW | T@lk 10:22, 23 May 2004 (UTC)

Names of more people who died from Vasculitis needed

Can anyone think of anyone other than Janet Leigh who have died from any type of Vasculitis? --198.164.135.37 12:42, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I dispute the need for such a list. We don't list all people who have died from a myocardial infarction (heart attack), or do we? Vasculitis is quite an esoteric type of diseases, and is rarely mentioned as a cause of death in obituaries so as not to confuse the readership.

As far as I'm concerned, Janet Leigh does not need to be mentioned on this page. JFW | T@lk 20:08, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)