Vasculitis

Vasculitis is a condition that causes inflammation (swelling) in your blood vessels.

Blood vessels are channels that carry blood throughout your body. They form a circuit that begins and ends at your heart. You have three types of blood vessels:

• Arteries: Arteries carry blood away from your heart to the rest of your body.
• Veins: Veins carry blood back to your heart.
• Capillaries: Capillaries are small blood vessels that connect your arteries and veins together. If you think about your circulatory system like a network of highways, capillaries are the on-ramps and exits that help your blood move along its route from your heart through your body and back.

If you have vasculitis, your blood vessels swell and thicken. This makes it harder for blood to flow through them. Over time, the inflammation can damage your organs and cause serious complications like aneurysms.

Most people with vasculitis can manage their symptoms with medication. But vasculitis can be fatal if you experience severe symptoms that affect blood flow to your organs.

Visit a healthcare provider if you experience symptoms like fever or feel numbness or tingling in your hands or feet. Call 911 (or your local emergency number) or go to the emergency room if you’re having trouble breathing or experiencing heart attack symptoms.

How does vasculitis affect my body?

Vasculitis can affect any blood vessel in your body, including the ones that are connected to your:

• Skin.
• Lungs.
• Heart.
• Nerves.
• Eyes.
• Kidneys.
• Brain.
• Sinuses.
• Stomach.
• Hands and feet.

How common is vasculitis?

Vasculitis is rare. Experts estimate fewer than 50 out of every million people in the U.S. develop it each year.

People older than 50 are more likely to develop vasculitis, but it’s still rare. Experts estimate that fewer than 300 people in one million people older than 50 in the U.S. are diagnosed with vasculitis each year.

Types of vasculitis

There are more than 30 types of vasculitis. A healthcare provider might diagnose you with a specific kind of vasculitis based on which of your blood vessels are affected.

Some types of vasculitis include:

• ANCA-associated vasculitis, including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA).
• Polyarteritis nodosa.
• IgA vasculitis (Henoch-Schönlein purpura).
• Rheumatoid vasculitis.
• Central nervous system vasculitis.
• Giant cell arteritis.
• Takayasu arteritis.
• Behçet’s disease.
• Urticarial vasculitis.
• Kawasaki disease.
• Vasculitis in children.