Treatment and monitoring of aortitis

  Aortitis is an autoimmune disease occurring in young and middle-aged women. It is a nonspecific total arteritis with predominantly mesenteric damage, with diffuse irregular thickening and fibrosis of the entire layer and thickened intima causing stenosis and obstruction of the arteries by proliferation of the thickened intima into the lumen. There are four types according to the location and extent of accumulated arteries: cephalobrachial type (aortic arch syndrome); thoracic and abdominal aortic type; extensive type and pulmonary artery type.  As for treatment, since aortitis is a systemic disease, current treatments are all symptomatic or palliative. Approximately 20% are self-limiting, and the disease is stable at the time of detection, and these patients can be followed up and observed if there are no comorbidities. For early onset of the disease with the presence of infectious factors in the upper respiratory tract, lungs or other organs, effective control of infection should be carried out, which may have some significance in preventing the development of the disease.  Hormone therapy: It is the basic treatment. Adrenocorticotropic hormone is still the main therapeutic drug for the active stage of the disease, and timely use of the drug can effectively improve the symptoms and relieve the disease. The decrease of blood sedimentation and C-reactive protein to normal is the indicator of dose reduction, which should be maintained for a long time. If the conventional dose of prednisone is ineffective, it can be changed to other dosage forms, and even high-dose intravenous shock therapy can be used in critical cases, but attention should be paid to hormone-induced comorbidities, such as Cushing’s syndrome, infection, hypertension,, diabetes, psychiatric symptoms and gastrointestinal bleeding and other adverse reactions, and long-term use should prevent osteoporosis.  Immunosuppressants: Immunosuppressants are used when adrenocorticotropic hormone alone is ineffective, or to increase the efficacy and reduce the amount of hormone available, the most commonly used drugs are: cyclophosphamide, azathioprine and methotrexate. Newer generation immunosuppressive drugs such as cyclosporine A, primaquine and leflunomide seem to be more effective and have fewer side effects. Severe cases can be life-threatening and cause major health hazards. It is now mostly believed that once aortitis is diagnosed, a combination therapy method of immunosuppressants and hormones should be actively started early. Even in clinical remission, immunosuppressant maintenance use should continue for a longer period of time.  The use of vasodilators and anticoagulants to improve blood circulation can partially improve some clinical symptoms in patients with significant vascular stenosis, and blood pressure should be actively controlled in patients with high blood pressure.  Interventional treatment: percutaneous transluminal angioplasty has opened up a new avenue for the treatment of aortitis, and has been applied to treat renal artery stenosis and abdominal aorta, subclavian artery stenosis, etc., with good results. However, it is not suitable for the active stage of the lesion.  Surgical treatment The main purpose of surgery is to resolve renal vascular hypertension and cerebral ischemia. For severe stenosis of the thoracic or abdominal aorta, artificial revascularization is feasible. In cases of unilateral or bilateral renal artery stenosis, transplanted kidney self-grafting or revascularization is possible, and in cases of significant atrophy of the affected kidney, nephrectomy is possible. In cases of recurrent syncope caused by hyperreflexia of the carotid sinus, carotid sinus removal and carotid sinus neurectomy may be performed. Coronary artery bypass grafting or stenting may be performed for coronary artery stenosis.  The key to treatment is to “do the right thing at the right time” to avoid wrong treatment. Monitoring of the main indicators becomes the basis for assessing the effectiveness of treatment and deciding on the treatment plan.  Monitoring indicators: (1) Erythrocyte sedimentation rate is an important indicator of disease activity. (1) Erythrocyte sedimentation rate is an important indicator of disease activity.  (2) C-reactive protein, which has the same clinical significance as hematocrit, is one of the indicators of the disease activity.  (3) Other indices A small number of patients have increased leukocytes or platelets during active disease, which is also a response to inflammatory activity. Chronic mild anemia may occur, and hyperimmunoglobulinemia is relatively rare