Active clinical trials for "Arteritis"

This pilot trial studies how well fluorine F 18 clofarabine positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) works in imaging patients with autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. Fluorine F 18 clofarabine is an imaging agent or tracer which may be taken up by inflammatory tissue in the body. Diagnostic imaging, such as PET/CT scans, can be used to measure the amount of injected tracer that is taken up by inflammatory tissue. PET/CT scan may help to determine how fluorine F 18 clofarabine is distributed throughout the body.

Currently, the traditional disease activity of Takayasu arteritis is mainly based on National Institutes of Health criteria and the inactive cases don't need anti-inflammatory treatment. However, pathologic findings showed that there was still inflammatory activity in the affected vessels, and the follow-up data also found significant lesion progression in some inactive cases. Sixty inactive Takayasu arteritis patients will be recruited to determine whether these individuals are active by screening new inflammatory markers in this study. New inflammatory markers included tumor necrosis factor,interleukin-2,interleukin-6,interleukin-8,interleukin-10,high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and 18f-FDG positron emission tomograph. According to new inflammatory markers, sixty patients will be divided into two categories: inactive patients (n=20) and active patients (n=40). And then, Forty active patients diagnosed by new inflammatory markers will be randomly assigned to either anti-inflammatory therapy group or control group. The changes of inflammatory activity and lesion progression will be observed during one-year follow up in all 60 patients.

The factors underlying the large interindividual variability in response to glucocorticoids in Giant Cell Arteritis are poorly understood. The investigators hypothesize that a part of this variability is related to pharmacokinetic factors determined by genetic polymorphism: hepatic clearance involving cytochromes P450 of the subfamily 3A (CYP3A) and drug efflux leukocyte conditioned by P-glycoprotein involved in multidrug resistance drugs (ABCB1). The investigators have designed a multicentric prospective pharmacokinetical and pharmacogenetic cohort study to assess the link between prednisolone clearance and the relapse risk in giant cell arteritis.

Clinical study of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy in patients with Takayasu arteritis. This study is single arm (anti Tumor necrosis factor therapy only) clinical trial. Enrolled patients will be 11

The aim of this study is to compare the use of FDG PET/CT to Ga-68 HA-DOTATATE (abbreviated DOTATATE) PET/CT in patients with active giant cell arteritis (GCA) started on prednisone to understand if DOTATATE can identify more areas of active blood vessel inflammation than FDG.

The general activity of Takayasu vasculitis is correlated with the perfusion rate of the carotid arterial wall. This can be quantified with ultrafast ultrasound imaging in sensitive Doppler sequence associated with the concomitant injection of microbubbles (SonoVue®). The hypothesis is that the carotid artery wall flow parameters obtained with ultrafast ultrasound imaging make possible to discriminate an active disease from an inactive disease because of the fibrous sequential arterial thickening. Thus, to improve the evaluation of Takayasu vasculitis activity and to refine the criteria for response to the various immunomodulatory treatments used.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine whether there is prompt engraftment after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation using filgrastim (G-CSF) mobilization in patients with life threatening autoimmune diseases. II. Determine the kinetics of T- and B-cell immune reconstitution after a combination of timed plasmapheresis, high dose cyclophosphamide and total lymphoid irradiation, and posttransplant immunosuppression with cyclosporine in these patients. III. Determine whether this treatment regimen beneficially influences the clinical course of these patients.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA or temporal arteritis or cranial arteritis) or Horton disease is a vasculitis that occurs in older adults, affecting vessels of medium and large caliber. The diagnosis of GCA is a challenge for general practitioners and specialists. Since 1970, it is based on a combination of clinical, biological and histological signs. Temporal artery biopsy (TAB) was the reference method until recently. However, TAB has many drawbacks. Therefore, researches of the past 20 years have been intended to develop alternative diagnostic methods. This was notably the case of the color Doppler ultrasound (CDU) since the description by Wolfgang Schmidt of the halo sign. Although European and British recommendations put CDU as second line method, many authors suggest the possibility to do without TAB in many cases. In addition, many practitioners believe that it is not "ethical" to use an invasive unprofitable procedure like TAB, and have already been using CDU in their routine practice. However, no diagnostic algorithm validating this approach in a prospective series has been published to date. Therefore, the present study aim at validating a diagnostic algorithm of giant cell arteritis using color Doppler imaging of temporal arteries and cervicocephalic axes as first screening method.

Arterial inflammation will be compared using PET scanning in 3 groups: 1) Non-smokers, 2) Tobacco cigarette smokers, 3) Electronic cigarette users.

Exercise may improve physical capacity and health parameters in Primary Syndrome´s Sjogren, Myositis and Takayasu's Arteritis. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of an exercise training program in patients with Primary Syndrome´s Sjogren, Myositis and Takayasu's Arteritis.