Vasculitis

Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortion

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) for Vasculitis

At the UPMC Vasculitis Center, we strive to provide the best possible patient care, as well as education and support to patients and the health care community, while contributing to the wider field by actively engaging in clinical and translational research. Our multidisciplinary center offers patients convenient access to a team of board-certified specialists in rheumatology, nephrology, dermatology, ophthalmology, and pulmonary medicine.

The University of Pittsburgh, in partnership with UPMC, has been distinguished as a “Vasculitis Center” by the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC), a member of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Only eight other institutions in the nation share this honor.

Research

Our team contributes to the growing field of vasculitis research and treatment by engaging in NIH-funded research and clinical trials. Notable research activities and successes by the Vasculitis Center faculty, in collaboration with the VCRC, include:

• Approval of Rituximab for ANCA-associated vasculitis
• Establishment sizable longitudinal cohorts of a number of rare diseases
  • Giant cell arteritis
  • Takayasu’s arteritis
  • Polyarteritis nodosa
  • Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegner’s)
  • Microscopic polyangiitis
  • Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss Syndrome)
  • Aortitis
  • Cutaneous vasculitis
• Randomized clinical trials
• Tissue repository

Treating all Forms of Vasculitis

Our specialists have expertise in diagnosing and treating secondary vasculitis (associated with medication, autoimmune disorders, infection, or cancer) as well as primary vasculitis, including:

• Wegener’s granulomatosis
• Microscopic polyangiitis
• Churg-Strauss syndrome
• Henoch-Schonlein purpura
• Polyarteritis nodosa
• Kawasaki disease
• Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (CNS vasculitis)
• Temporal arteritis/giant cell arteritis (GCA)
• Takayasu’s arteritis

Team of Experts

All Vasculitis Center physicians are board-certified in rheumatology and serve on the faculty of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology.