What causes vascular inflammation

We know that the health of blood vessels is directly related to our physical health. Even minor problems with blood vessels may cause serious consequences. For example, vascular inflammation may cause great harm to our health. Vascular inflammation is usually caused by some specific reasons. If you want to avoid vascular inflammation, it is best to understand its causes and take appropriate measures to avoid damage as much as possible. So, what causes vascular inflammation? Next, experts will analyze the causes of various types of vascular inflammation.

A few causes of vasculitis are relatively clear, such as serum sickness, drug allergy and infection. Hepatitis B virus has been confirmed to be the cause of various vasculitis; Chinese cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, etc. can also cause vasculitis. However, the cause of most vasculitis is unknown. It may be due to direct damage to blood vessels by infection, or it may be due to multiple factors leading to an inflammatory response mediated by immune abnormalities. In recent years, some people believe that anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies can react with granules in neutrophils and lysosomes in monocytes, activating humoral and cellular inflammatory mediators and leading to vasculitis. In medical pathology, there is cell infiltration and necrosis in the blood vessel wall, deposition of fibrinoids, edema, proliferation and bleeding of the vascular endothelium, which eventually leads to narrowing and occlusion of the blood vessel lumen, causing tissue ischemia and necrosis.

Even though the cause of vasculitis is unclear, the classification of vasculitis is relatively clear. The following are seven types of vasculitis:

1. Allergic leukocytoclastic (necrotizing) vasculitis: a group of vasculitis diseases caused by allergies due to various reasons, mainly involving small blood vessels, especially post-capillary veins. It is characterized by fibrin deposition, degeneration and necrosis in the vessel wall and surrounding tissues, infiltration of a large number of neutrophils and nuclear fragmentation into nuclear dust. The onset is usually acute, often with skin lesions of varying forms. The main ones include allergic cutaneous vasculitis, allergic systemic vasculitis, allergic purpura, hypocomplementary (urticarial) vasculitis, etc.

2. Polyarteritis nodosa: a non-granulomatous vasculitis characterized by segmental inflammation and necrosis of medium and small muscular arteries. It can affect tissues, organs and blood vessels throughout the body, and the clinical manifestations are complex and non-specific. The main ones include systemic polyarteritis nodosa, benign cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa, infantile polyarteritis nodosa, etc.

3. Thrombotic vasculitis: mainly affects medium and small arteries and veins, characterized by intravascular thrombosis and presents different clinical manifestations. The main ones include thromboangiitis obliterans, thrombophlebitis, malignant atrophic papulosis, livedo reticularis vasculitis, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, etc.

4. Granulomatosis with polyangiitis: It is a multi-system disease involving large, medium and small blood vessels. It is characterized by the formation of granulomas inside and outside the vessel walls. The course of the disease is slow and sometimes very serious. The main ones include Wegener's granulomatosis, allergic granulomatous vasculitis, temporal arteritis, and Takayasu arteritis.

5. Lymphocytic vasculitis: It is characterized by involvement of small blood vessels in the skin and infiltration of lymphocytes in the vessel walls and surrounding tissues, producing different types of skin lesions, with a slow course and repeated attacks. The main ones include lymphomatoid papulosis, acute acne-like pityriasis lichenoides, etc.

6. Nodular vasculitis: a group of skin diseases characterized by involvement of blood vessels in the fatty tissue above and below the skin and the formation of subcutaneous nodular lesions. The main ones are nodular vasculitis and erythema indura.

7. Abnormal blood component vasculitis: An inflammatory disease of small blood vessels caused by abnormalities of certain components in the blood, manifested as skin or internal organ damage, and the course of the disease is chronic. The main ones are cryoglobulinemia, cryohyperglobulinemia, macroglobulinemia, etc.