ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on clinical and therapeutic features of pulmonary vasculitis. Special attention will be paid to the role of medication in drug-induced pulmonary vasculitis. Vasculitis can occur secondary to drugs, infection and/or other diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and may also occur without known underlying cause. Therapy for vasculitis relies on immunosuppression, or in the case of drug-induced vasculitis cessation of the drug. Pulmonary vasculitis may occur as part of any systemic vasculitis or may be associated with another underlying disease such as a connective tissue disease, paraneoplastic, bronchocentric granulomatosis or inflammatory bowel disease. Vasculitides are chronic diseases that present with relapses and remissions. In most cases of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, relapses are preceded by increases of ANCA levels. The diagnosis of Churg-Strauss syndrome is based on the presence of asthma, peripheral eosinophilia, clinical signs of systemic vasculitis, histopathological findings and/or angiographic abnormalities. Two forms of large-vessel vasculitis will be discussed: Takayasu arteritis and giant-cell arteritis.
