Secondary vasculitis - omitted manifestation of many diseases.

ABSTRACT

Secondary vasculitides usually accompany various common and rare conditions, Their clinical picture is very diverse, they can be loclaized or genaralized. Most frequently, we find parainfectious, drug-related and paraneoplastic vasculitides, less commonly in connective tissue diseases, after radiotherapy or transplantation. Vasculitides may be associated to infection of any origin. Drug-related vasculitides are mainly confined to the skin with picture of leukocytoclastic angiitis but visceral organs may be involved too. Paraneoplastic vasculitides usually accompany solid tumours and lymphoproliferative processes. When related to connective tissue diseases we can observe vasculitis in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjoegren syndrome, systemic sclerosis and other conditions. The diagnosis of vasculitis is usually based on pathological findings from biopsy. Management lies in treatment of underlying disease and if it is ineffective combined immunosuppression should be introduced.