 |
 |
 |
|
A serious blood vessel disease in which small- and medium-sized arteries become swollen and damaged.
Incidence
Polyarteritis nodosa is a vascular disease of unknown cause which typically strikes adults.
Signs & Symptoms
Generalized symptoms include fever, fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss. Muscle aches (myalgia) and joint aches (arthralgia) are common. The skin may show rashes, swelling, ulcers, and lumps (nodular lesions). Nerve involvement may cause sensory changes with numbness, pain, burning and weakness. Central nervous system involvement may cause strokes or seizures. Kidney involvement can produce varying degrees of renal failure. Involvement of the arteries of the heart may cause a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction), heart failure and inflammation of the sack around the heart (pericarditis).
Prognosis; Complications
Treatment is mandatory for long-term survival. The five-year survival rate in treated patients may approach 50%.
The end result of arterial damage is subsequent damage to the tissue that the arteries supply. In this disease, secondary symptoms are a result of damage to the organs being affected - often the skin, heart, kidneys and nervous system.
Complications include:
|
|
 |
|
 |
Risk factors for Periarteritis:
Recommendations and treatments for Periarteritis:
KEY | | Weak or unproven link |  | | Likely to help |  | | Highly recommended |
GLOSSARY
Acute
An illness or symptom of sudden onset, which generally has a short duration.
Arterial (Arteries, Artery)
Blood that leaves the heart. When it leaves the right ventricle, it is venous blood; and when it leaves the left ventricle, through the aorta, it is fresh and oxygenated. After it has passed out to the capillaries and started to return, it is venous blood.
Arthralgia
Severe throbbing or stabbing pain along a nerve in one or more joints.
Central Nervous System (CNS)
A collective term for the brain, spinal cord, their nerves, and the sensory end organs. More broadly, this can even include the
neurotransmitting hormones instigated by the CNS that control the chemical nervous system, the endocrine glands.
Kidneys (Kidney, Renal)
Bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. They are located near the middle of the back, just below the rib cage. The kidneys are sophisticated reprocessing machines, each day handling about 50 gallons of blood to sift out about half a gallon of waste products and extra water. The waste and extra water become urine, which flows to the bladder through tubes called ureters. The actual filtering occurs in tiny units inside the kidneys called nephrons. Every kidney has about a million nephrons. In a nephron, a glomerulus -- which is a tiny blood vessel, or capillary -- intertwines with a tiny urine-collecting tube called a tubule. A complicated chemical exchange takes place, as waste materials and water leave your blood and enter your urinary system. The kidneys recycle chemicals such as sodium, phosphorus, and potassium and thus regulate their levels. Renal: Pertaining to the kidneys.
Lesion (Lesions)
Any damage to tissue structure or function; an abnormal change in body tissue caused by disease or injury. A scar is a lesion, as is cancer, a stomach ulcer or a pimple.
Myalgia
Diffuse muscle pain.
Necrosis
Death of one or more cells, or of a portion of a tissue or organ.
Nervous System
A system in the body that is comprised of the brain, spinal cord, nerves, ganglia and parts of the receptor organs that receive and interpret stimuli and transmit impulses to effector organs.
Seizure (Seizures)
While there are over 40 types of seizure, most are classed as either partial seizures which occur when the excessive electrical activity in the brain is limited to one area or generalized seizures which occur when the excessive electrical activity in the brain encompasses the entire organ. Although there is a wide range of signs, they mainly include such things as falling to the ground; muscle stiffening; jerking and twitching; loss of consciousness; an empty stare; rapid chewing/blinking/breathing. Usually lasting from between a couple of seconds and several minutes, recovery may be immediate or take up to several days.
Stroke (Stroke-Type Event)
A sudden loss of brain function caused by a blockage or rupture of a blood vessel that supplies the brain, characterized by loss of muscular control, complete or partial loss of sensation or consciousness, dizziness, slurred speech, or other symptoms that vary with the extent and severity of the damage to the brain. The most common manifestation is some degree of paralysis, but small strokes may occur without symptoms. Usually caused by arteriosclerosis, it often results in brain damage.
Ulcer (Ulceration, Ulcers)
Lesion on the skin or mucous membrane.
Vascular
Relating to the blood vessels of the body. The blood vessels of the body, as a group, are referred to as the vascular system. They are composed of arteries, veins and capillaries - arteries that pass oxygen-rich blood to the tissues of the body; veins which return oxygen-depleted blood from the tissues to the lungs for oxygen; and the capillaries that are the tiniest vessels and are between the arteries and veins.
Last updated: Apr 13, 2008
|
 |
|
|
