Anti-GBM antibodies are antibodies directed against glomerular basement membranes. Patients with anti-GBM disease (Goodpasture’s syndrome) will present with involvement of lungs and kidneys, so-called pulmonary-renal syndrome. This can include bleeding in the lungs (hemoptysis) that can lead to respiratory failure and bleeding in the kidney (hematuria) that can lead to…...
When can we expect results on whether rituximab will work for other types of vasculitis?
Studies have been performed that suggest that rituximab works well in cryoglobulinemic vasculitis particularly when associated with hepatitis C infection, and some of these studies are already published. Other types of vasculitis in which rituximab seems likely to work (polyarteritis nodosa, EGPA/Churg-Strauss) are more difficult to study due to their…...
What are the chances of recovering lost hearing in a patient with GPA?
Hearing can be transiently decreased in patients with GPA with acute otitis, because of the presence of liquid in the inner ear(s), which will regress under appropriate treatment. However, when the inner ear damage is severe, because of prolonged or multiple recurrences of otitis, and/or when the auditory nerve(s) are…...
What is the difference between ANCA and ANA?
Both are blood tests used by doctors to help in the diagnosis of autoimmune disease. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) is a blood test commonly elevated in patients with diseases such granulomatosis with polyangiitis, microscopic polyangiitis, and EGPA/Churg-Strauss syndrome. Antinuclear antibody (ANA) is a blood test most often elevated in patients…...
What does the word polyangiitis mean? (related to the name change).
“Poly” indicates that many blood vessels are involved, and “angiitis” is used instead of “arteritis” because granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s) and microscopic polyangiitis affect the smallest vessels in the body (arterioles, capillaries, and venules), all of which are smaller than arteries. In contrast, in polyarteritis nodosa, giant cell arteritis, and…...
