These new guidelines are the first produced and endorsed by the ACR and the VF. The organizations hope the guidelines will help providers better understand and treat the various forms of vasculitis.
“Different forms of vasculitis can have similar symptoms and treatment regimens; however, each disease is distinct, “said Joyce Kullman, Executive Director of the Vasculitis Foundation. “These guidelines will hopefully take some of the guesswork out of determining which treatments might work best for newly diagnosed patients, or patients who have been under treatment for a while without success.”
As much as the guidelines highlight what evidence-based knowledge exists for the treatment and management of vasculitis, they also shine a light on what work needs to be done.
“We identified knowledge gaps that would benefit from additional research, like comparative effectiveness trials, longitudinal studies of imaging modalities, and identification of biomarkers to inform disease activity assessments,” said Dr. Chung. “We hope this fuels research in these
Like many other ACR guidelines, the three guidelines for vasculitis were developed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology, which creates rigorous standards for judging the quality of the literature available and assigns strengths to the recommendations. Most of the recommendations in the guidelines are conditional because of the rarity of these diseases. The papers containing the full list of recommendations and supporting evidence is available at on the ACR website.
About the American College of Rheumatology
Founded in 1934, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is a not-for-profit, professional association committed to advancing the specialty of rheumatology that serves over 7,700 physicians, health professionals, and scientists worldwide. In doing so, the ACR offers education, research, advocacy and practice management support to help its members continue their innovative work and provide quality patient care. Rheumatology professionals are experts in the diagnosis, management and treatment of more than 100 different types of arthritis and rheumatic diseases. For more information, visit www.rheumatology.org.
About the Vasculitis Foundation
The Vasculitis Foundation (VF) is the international advocacy organization for people with vasculitis and has funded over 50 research studies, providing $2.7 million in funding. The VF is a central partner to a productive collaboration between patients, academic clinical investigators, and funding organizations conducting high-quality clinical research in vasculitis. Building upon the collective strength of the vasculitis community, the VF supports, inspires and empowers individuals with vasculitis and their families through a wide range of education, research, clinical, and awareness initiatives. For more information, visit www.vasculitisfoundation.org.
