STUDIES ON NECROTIZING ANGIITIS

Abstract

IN A RECENT report by one of us1the various concepts concerning periarteritis nodosa were discussed. The term was suggested as a convenient name to use collectively for that group of vascular lesions which are characterized, in their fully developed stage, by fibrinoid necrosis and inflammatory reaction in vessel walls. The term is noncommittal in regard to etiology and is applicable to lesions in either arteries or veins of any caliber and in any location in the body. Previously reported studies on experimentally produced lesions of this nature in rats and dogs2and observations of autopsy material in cases of necrotizing angiitis at the Cincinnati General Hospital have demonstrated the feasibility of classifying the necrotizing angiitides into at least five categories. The characteristic morphological features of the vascular lesions of each type have been described in previous reports3and are outlined in Table 1. To