What're the symptoms of vasculitis?
The signs and symptoms of vasculitis vary depending on which vessels and, as a result, which organ systems are affected.
The swelling associated with vasculitis occurs when the damaged blood vessels leak. The inflamed area is red, tender, and feels hot to the touch. General symptoms include fever, achiness, arthritis pain, appetite and weight loss, and low energy. The patient might also have hard, purple blotches on the skin, called petechiae. When areas of skin are completely deprived of blood flow, the patient develops blackened areas of gangrene where the skin has died.
Other symptoms of vasculitis depend upon the severity of the inflammation and the organ system or blood vessels that are affected. When the small veins are inflamed, only tiny amounts of blood leak. This causes large purple circles on the skin, called purpura, characteristic of Henoch-Schönlein syndrome. When the blood vessels in the deep layers of the skin are affected, symptoms include deep, painful red bumps on the arms and legs. This occurs in erythema nodosum. Polyarteritis nodosa is characterized by vasculitis of the medium-sized arteries, which can completely destroy the walls of the arteries, causing kidney failure, heart complications, gastrointestinal problems, and high blood pressure. Patients with temporal (giant cell) arteritis may have severe headaches, blindness, and stroke, caused by vasculitis of the arteries in the brain and head. Vasculitis associated with Takayasu's arteritis affects the large arteries, specifically those around the heart, which results in symptoms ranging from fever and night sweats, to difficulty finding a pulse in locations where it can usually be felt, to heart attack.
Vasculitis of the heart may occur in some children with Kawasaki's disease. Vasculitis in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis primarily affects the respiratory tract and causes coughing, shortness of breath, nose bleeds, and ear infections. Granulomas, masses of inflamed tissue, can form in the lungs. Other symptoms may affect the eyes, skin, and kidneys. Patients who develop vasculitis as a result of a drug reaction usually have fever, joint pain, and swollen lymph nodes. |
