Angiographic findings in systemic necrotizing vasculitis

Angiographic studies were carried out on 21 patients with systemic necrotizing vasculitis. Four basic arterial anomalies were found: (1) saccular microaneurysms appeared in 62% of the patients (2) arterial thrombosis was seen in 81% of patients; (3) arterial stenosis occurred in 81%; and (4) lumen irregularities occurred in 90%. Alterations in the renal vascular flow were also observed in accordance with changes in the cortical medullary differentiation, heterogeneous nephrogram, and prolonged washout. Two patients showed regression of microaneurysms after immunosuppressive therapy. We found angiography to be a low-risk technique of use for diagnosis and followup studies on vasculitis.