Vasculitis – Treatment

Transcript

The treatment of vasculitis depends on the specific type of the vasculitis. Since this is an autoimmune condition, most forms of vasculitis will require some form of immune suppressing medications. In general, there are two phases of treatment of vasculitis. Number one is called induction phase. When you require high doses of corticosteroids, along with other immune suppressing medication. The specific type of which depends on the type of vasculitis. In the second phase of the treatment, also called maintenance phase, your doctor will gradually reduce the corticosteroid dose, but you will also need to continue the immune suppressing medication at a lower dose. The corticosteroids help control the inflammation, which could cause joint damage. They also help expedite the recovery of your symptoms. Because of the long-term side effect with the use of corticosteroids, your doctor will help find what we call steroid sparing agents, which are safer for long term use than the corticosteroids.