Treatment Guidelines in Vasculitis

The vasculitides encompass a group of inflammatory conditions affecting the blood vessels with severe consequences including tissue ischemia, structural abnormalities, such as aneurysms/dissections, and end organ damage. The different forms are commonly classified based on the size of the blood vessel involved as large-vessel, medium-vessel, and small-vessel vasculitis. The American College of Rheumatology/Vasculitis Foundation recently published guidelines on the management of several forms of primary systemic vasculitides. In this review, the recommendations for giant cell arteritis, Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, microscopic polyangiitis, and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis are discussed. We highlight the key recommendations, aspects where they diverge from other published guidelines, controversies, and areas of uncertainty.