View clinical trials related to Arteritis.
Filter by:It has been reported that around 40% of GCA patients are able to decrease the prednisone dose until 0.1 mg/Kg/d or less after 6 months of treatment. In this study, we hypothesized that adding 3 months of tocilizumab to prednisone could increase the percentage from 40 to 70%.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of contrast enhanced carotid ultrasound to serve as an indicator of disease activity in patients with Takayasu's arteritis or Giant Cell arteritis and to determine if patients with active arteritis have a thickening of their blood vessel walls compared to healthy people of the same age and gender.
This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in participants with GCA. The study will consist of 2 parts: a 52-week double-blind treatment period (Part 1) followed by a 104-week open label long-term follow-up period (Part 2). In Part 1 of the study eligible participants will be randomized to receive either tocilizumab every week (qw) or every 2 weeks (q2w) or placebo for 52 weeks, with tapering oral daily doses of prednisone. After Week 52, participants in remission will stop study treatment and enter long-term follow-up, whereas participants with disease activity or flares will receive open-label tocilizumab or other treatment at the discretion of the investigator for a maximum period of 104 weeks.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most frequent vasculitis in patients above 50 years of age. The disease has limited mortality, mostly due to the development of aortic aneurysms, leading to dissection and rupture. The probability to develop this complication is 17 x higher at the level of the thoracic aorta and 2,4 x at the level of the abdominal aorta in patients with GCA when compared with a control group. Therefore, follow-up of the aortic diameter in patients with GCA is part of good clinical practice. Previous retrospective research showed a link between FDG-uptake at the level of the thoracic aorta, on positron-emission-tomography (PET) at the time of diagnosis, and the increase of diameter and volume of the thoracic aorta during follow-up (on computed tomography (CT)). The purpose of this prospective study is to follow-up on the aortic diameter, and to correlate these measures with FDG-PET uptake at diagnosis. Ideally, this would allow us to define a group of patients at high risk to develop an aortic aneurysm, already at the time of diagnosis.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that [18F]FDG PET is a a better method than clinical and laboratory values for the identification and assessment of inflammatory activity in patients with Takayasu Arteritis (TA), allowing long-term follow-up with a precise evaluation of response to therapy.
Giant-cell arteritis (GCA) is an immune-mediated disease that mostly affects people older than 50 years of age. Glucocorticoid (GC) treatment dramatically alters the symptoms and course of GCA, reducing the likelihood of vascular complications that could lead e.g. to blindness. However, relapses usually occur when GC dosages are tapered, resulting in frequent re-treatment with high cumulative dosages of GC over time with substantial toxicity and morbidity (e.g. diabetes mellitus, infections, enhanced cardiovascular risk, osteoporotic fractures, cataracts). Therefore, novel therapies are needed that effectively reduce the dose and duration of GC treatment and provide more durable remissions of GCA. Tocilizumab (TCZ) is a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the human interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R). Elevated tissue and serum levels of IL-6 have been implicated in giant cell arteritis. Inhibition of IL-6 and/or its receptor therefore represents a new and novel approach for the treatment of RA. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients that have achieved complete remission of disease after treatment with TCZ compared to treatment with placebo at week 12. All patients will receive glucocorticoids in a standardized form.
The main purposes of this study is to analyze, in a randomized controlled trial, the effects of an exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program (i) on biomarkers of endothelial function, (ii) on biomarkers of inflammation, (iii) on autonomic function, and (iv) on arterial stiffness in coronary artery disease patients (CAD). Additionally, the investigators aim to analyze the (v) contribution of age and the changes in traditional risk factors to the modification of the endothelial dysfunction and inflammation, and (vi) the contribution of the changes in inflammatory and endothelial function biomarkers to the modification of autonomic function and arterial stiffness. The investigators hypothesize that exercise training will improve the autonomic function, arterial stiffness and mitigate the endothelial dysfunction and inflammation in CAD patients even in the absence of significant changes in traditional risk factors. Thus, the investigators expect with the present study to promote, develop and expand the knowledge in this field by assessing the impact of exercise on a pool of markers that provide a wide picture of the pathophysiological processes underlying CAD.
Background: Buerger's disease (thromboangiitis obliterans or TAO) is a rare disease (1/ 10 000) characterized by the development of segmental thrombotic occlusions of the medium and small arteries of the extremities. Afflicted patients are mostly young, male, inveterate tobacco (or cannabis) smokers who present with distal extremity ischemia, ischemic ulcers, of the toes or fingers. Large arteries are typically spared, as are the coronary, cerebral, and visceral circulations. Patients with TAO often suffer from severe ischemic pain and tissue loss culminating in minor and major limb amputation. Clinical diagnostic criteria generally include history of tobacco abuse; age of onset less than 50 years; infrapopliteal, segmental arterial occlusions with sparing of the proximal vasculature; frequent distal upper extremity arterial involvement (Raynaud's syndrome or digital ulceration); superficial phlebitis; and exclusion of arteriosclerosis, diabetes, true arteritis, proximal embolic source, and hypercoagulable states. While the cause of Buerger's disease remains unknown, the disease onset and clinical course are inextricably linked to tobacco (or cannabis) abuse. Tobacco abstinence generally results in disease quiescence and remains the mainstay of treatment. For some unknown reason, clinicians observed that TAO patients rarely discontinue smoking even though amputation is usually the inevitable consequence and the only method available of controlling pain and ulceration. Few studies were realized and Hofer-Mayer and coll. found remarkable personality features comparing to coronary patients: TAO patients significantly changed their place of work more often, had more absenteeism from work, smoked more before the illness and continued to smoke more frequently during their illness, were more often single or divorced and had more conflicts in their relationships. Those facts led us to explore their psychopathology and their addictive profile. Purpose: Search the prevalence of personality disorders in Buerger's patients who present with tobacco or cannabis smoking. Hypothesis: Patients with Buerger's disease show remarkable personality features (psychological and addictive profile) which are vulnerability factors to stop smoking (tobacco or cannabis) compared to patients with atheromatous arteritis.
Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) causes inflammation and narrowing of blood vessels and can cause blindness in one third of patients. It is important that a prompt, accurate diagnosis of GCA is made and treatment given as steroids for two or more years. Currently there is no 100% accurate test for GCA. Patients usually have new headache and scalp tenderness, typically with an abnormal blood test. However, it can be difficult to distinguish non-serious forms of headache from GCA; infection produces similar abnormal blood results. If there is a suspicion of GCA, treatment with steroids is started straight away. To confirm a diagnosis, the patient will need a biopsy of a temporal artery (a minor procedure performed under local anaesthetic to remove a sample of one of the scalp arteries). However, up to 44% of patients will have a normal biopsy. Therefore it is difficult to know if a patient with a normal biopsy does or does not have GCA. Withdrawing steroid treatment may increase the risk of blindness. Continuing treatment in a patient without GCA increases the risk of side effects (e.g., weight gain, infection risk, osteoporosis and fracture risk, high blood pressure, diabetes, cataracts). It is important to improve diagnostic tests for GCA. Another test to help in diagnosing GCA is an ultrasound scan of the arteries in the side of the head and under the arms. Ultrasound does not involve surgery; it is a simple test which can be performed as an out patient. Gel is applied to both sides of the head and under each arm. A sound probe is placed over the artery at each site to produce the scan. The investigators' study will examine the role of ultrasound in diagnosis of 402 patients with suspected GCA. All patients will have an ultrasound examination in addition to biopsy within a week of starting steroids. Patients will be treated according to usual practice. After six months, the investigators will reassess the diagnosis. The investigators will look at the accuracy of ultrasound compared with or combined with biopsy. The investigators will look at how a doctor's knowledge of ultrasound results or biopsy results alone would affect the diagnosis and recommendation to continue or stop steroid treatment. The investigators will assess whether knowledge of both results together would alter the diagnosis and treatment. The investigators will collect information to estimate the costs of different ways of diagnosing GCA in relation to the impact on quality of life.
Assessing disease activity in people with Takayasu's arteritis is difficult, as most people with the disease do not exhibit visible, measurable symptoms. Combination positron emission tomography/computed axial tomography (PET/CT) is a particularly sensitive, accurate scanning method that may improve researchers' ability to evaluate people with the disease. This study will determine the effectiveness of PET/CT in assessing disease activity in people with Takayasu's arteritis.