The term large vessel vasculitis (LVV) usually denotes the spectrum of primary vasculitides that causes chronic granulomatous inflammation predominantly involving the aorta and its major branches.
Pathology
The two major entities in this group are:
- giant cell arteritis (GCA): affects older individuals (typically over 50)
- Takayasu arteritis (TA): affects younger individuals (typically under 50)
There are, however, many other conditions that can potentially involve large calibre vessels. These include:
- Hughes-Stovin syndrome
- Kawasaki disease
- Behcet syndrome
- rheumatoid arthritis
- syphilis
- tuberculosis
- isolated angiitis of the central nervous system
See also
- pulmonary vasculitis
- large vessel cerebral vasculitis (LVCV): CNS vasculitis affecting the internal carotid arteries, intracranial vertebral arteries and/or basilar artery 5