Inflammatory arteritis is swelling in the walls of your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to other parts of the body. Swelling from inflammatory arteritis can cause blockages or aneurysms in your arteries, including your aorta (your body's largest artery).
Aneurysms and blockages can be life-threatening. An aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel wall. They may tear open if they get too big. A blockage can reduce blood flow in your body. This can cause damage to your organs, leading to conditions including:
- Blindness
- Heart failure
- Kidney failure
We can treat your inflammatory arteritis and get to the bottom of your symptoms.
Treating Inflammatory Arteritis
We’ll use medication with steroids to reduce your swelling. Sometimes, your own immune system causes the swelling (autoimmune response). Immunosuppressive drugs can calm your immune system down and reduce swelling.
Some patients, especially those with Takayasu's arteritis, might need surgery. Surgery will either:
- Bypass a blockage in your artery
- Repair aneurysms caused by the swelling
Arteritis Symptoms
When you have swelling in your arteries, you might have:
- Trouble seeing
- Bad headaches
- Fever
- Weakness
- Numbness
We use these tests to check your arteries for swelling:
- Ultrasound
- Computed tomography (CT) angiography
- Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)
What Causes Inflammatory Arteritis?
Swelling in your arteries might come from an infection or disease. It might also be caused by your own immune system (autoimmune response).
Types of inflammatory arteritis include:
- Takayasu's arteritis
- Giant cell (temporal) arteritis
- Radiation arteritis