Active clinical trials for "Arteritis"

The purpose of this study is to learn about how patients with vasculitis think about their illness and to assess to what extent patient perceptions of illness are associated with physical, mental, and social functioning

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common vasculitis in adults. The diagnosis of GCA is evoked by the association of clinical signs and biological anomalies (inflammatory syndrome) in patients over 50 years of age. On the other hand, starting a treatment implies being certain of the diagnosis which requires performing a temporal artery biopsy under local anesthesia. This examination is therefore an invasive procedure for patients whose sensitivity is not optimal. This is why imaging techniques (echo-Doppler or MRI of the temporal arteries) have been developed to look for signs of vasculitis without the need to perform a biopsy. However, these examinations lack sensitivity (=falsely concluding the absence of GCA) and specificity (=falsely concluding the presence of GCA). Recently, advances in imaging, and in particular positron emission tomography (PET), have made it possible to visualize the cephalic arteries, including the temporal artery. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of PET of the cephalic arteries for the diagnosis of GCA and to compare them with those of echo-Doppler and MRI of the temporal arteries.

The purpose of this study is to measure arterial 99mTc-Tilmanocept uptake using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) scanning in HIV infected subjects known to have subclinical coronary atherosclerosis as assessed by contrast-enhanced coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most frequent vasculitis in patients above 50 years of age. The disease has limited mortality, mostly due to the development of aortic aneurysms, leading to dissection and rupture. The probability to develop this complication is 17 x higher at the level of the thoracic aorta and 2,4 x at the level of the abdominal aorta in patients with GCA when compared with a control group. Therefore, follow-up of the aortic diameter in patients with GCA is part of good clinical practice. Previous retrospective research showed a link between FDG-uptake at the level of the thoracic aorta, on positron-emission-tomography (PET) at the time of diagnosis, and the increase of diameter and volume of the thoracic aorta during follow-up (on computed tomography (CT)). The purpose of this prospective study is to follow-up on the aortic diameter, and to correlate these measures with FDG-PET uptake at diagnosis. Ideally, this would allow us to define a group of patients at high risk to develop an aortic aneurysm, already at the time of diagnosis.

Takayasu Arteritis (TA) affects medium and large caliber arteries causing stenosis, occlusion or aneurysms. It has great predilection for the aortic arch, subclavian and extracranial arteries. The global prevalence is of 1 to 2% per million inhabitants, which varies by geographical region. The main cause of death in TA is of cardiovascular origin and includes ischemic cardiomyopathy and valvular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical experience according to the type of surgery in subjects with TA with and without inflammatory activity. Methods: This was a retrospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study run between 1977 and 2017. Patients with Takayasu arteritis with more than 3 classification criteria according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) were included. The surgeries were classified as: Organ preservation, cardiac, bypass, exclusion and replacement. Inflammatory activity was evaluated.

Background: Buerger's disease (thromboangiitis obliterans or TAO) is a rare disease (1/ 10 000) characterized by the development of segmental thrombotic occlusions of the medium and small arteries of the extremities. Afflicted patients are mostly young, male, inveterate tobacco (or cannabis) smokers who present with distal extremity ischemia, ischemic ulcers, of the toes or fingers. Large arteries are typically spared, as are the coronary, cerebral, and visceral circulations. Patients with TAO often suffer from severe ischemic pain and tissue loss culminating in minor and major limb amputation. Clinical diagnostic criteria generally include history of tobacco abuse; age of onset less than 50 years; infrapopliteal, segmental arterial occlusions with sparing of the proximal vasculature; frequent distal upper extremity arterial involvement (Raynaud's syndrome or digital ulceration); superficial phlebitis; and exclusion of arteriosclerosis, diabetes, true arteritis, proximal embolic source, and hypercoagulable states. While the cause of Buerger's disease remains unknown, the disease onset and clinical course are inextricably linked to tobacco (or cannabis) abuse. Tobacco abstinence generally results in disease quiescence and remains the mainstay of treatment. For some unknown reason, clinicians observed that TAO patients rarely discontinue smoking even though amputation is usually the inevitable consequence and the only method available of controlling pain and ulceration. Few studies were realized and Hofer-Mayer and coll. found remarkable personality features comparing to coronary patients: TAO patients significantly changed their place of work more often, had more absenteeism from work, smoked more before the illness and continued to smoke more frequently during their illness, were more often single or divorced and had more conflicts in their relationships. Those facts led us to explore their psychopathology and their addictive profile. Purpose: Search the prevalence of personality disorders in Buerger's patients who present with tobacco or cannabis smoking. Hypothesis: Patients with Buerger's disease show remarkable personality features (psychological and addictive profile) which are vulnerability factors to stop smoking (tobacco or cannabis) compared to patients with atheromatous arteritis.

This study seeks to understand the journey that patients eventually are diagnosed with vasculitis experience in the period prior to their formal diagnosis by a healthcare provider. Data elements of interest include average time from the onset of the first symptoms to the time a diagnosis of vasculitis is confirmed. Other aims include identifying factors associated with the time to diagnosis. These factors will be divided into: a) intrinsic factors, or so-called "patient-related factors", such as the type of vasculitis symptoms, patient demographics, socioeconomic status, patients' beliefs regarding the etiology of their symptoms, and other factors, and b) extrinsic factors, or "professional/health system factors", such as healthcare access, referral patterns, testing patterns, and other factors. Understanding such factors can guide future efforts to shorten delays in diagnosis and thereby improve outcomes. All analyses will be done for the population of patients with vasculitis as a whole and by individual types of vasculitis.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that [18F]FDG PET is a a better method than clinical and laboratory values for the identification and assessment of inflammatory activity in patients with Takayasu Arteritis (TA), allowing long-term follow-up with a precise evaluation of response to therapy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of contrast enhanced carotid ultrasound to serve as an indicator of disease activity in patients with Takayasu's arteritis or Giant Cell arteritis and to determine if patients with active arteritis have a thickening of their blood vessel walls compared to healthy people of the same age and gender.

Takayasu's arteritis is a rare disorder that causes swelling and damage to the large arteries in the body, such as the aorta. In order to ensure proper treatment, measuring disease activity is critical. The purpose of this study is to establish new biological markers (biomarkers) to assess the severity of disease in people with Takayasu's arteritis.