[Vasculitis. Immunological, anatomo-clinical and therapeutic study (author's transl)]

Vasculitis may give rise to different clinical symptoms according to the vessels involved, but its pathology is always the same: inflammation and, sometimes, necrosis of blood vessels. Most vasculitis are associated with immune mechanisms, notably formation of immune complexes. Infections, drug reactions and systemic or malignant diseases are sometimes accompanied with vasculitis, but they do not confer specificity to the anatomo-clinical picture. A classification of the various types of vasculitis including these factors provides a more rational approach to therapy. It must be remembered, in particular, that corticosteroids and cytotoxic agents, already used successfully in Wegener's granulomatosis, have a place in the treatment of other forms of systemic necrotizing vasculitis.