Objective. Previous studies of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) included patients with microscopic polyangiitis, because these entities were not distinguished prior to the Chapel Hill Consensus Conference (CHCC). This study was undertaken to describe the main characteristics of and long-term outcomes in patients with wellcharacterized PAN diagnoses.Methods. We conducted a systematic retrospective study of 348 patients who were diagnosed as having Multivariate analysis retained age >65 years, hypertension, and gastrointestinal manifestations requiring surgery or at least consultation with a surgeon as independent predictors of death, whereas patients with cutaneous manifestations or non-HBV-related PAN had a higher risk of relapse.Conclusion. Our findings indicate that the rate of mortality from PAN remains high, especially for the elderly, and relapses do occur, particularly in patients with non-HBV-related PAN with cutaneous manifestations.Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), first described in 1866 by Küssmaul and Maier (1), is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis that predominantly affects medium-sized arteries, and is primary in most patients but is the consequence of viral infections, mainly hepatitis B virus (HBV), in some. Populations of patients with PAN that

BackgroundLong-term immunosuppressive treatment does not efficiently prevent relapses of lupus nephritis (LN). This investigator-initiated randomised trial tested whether mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) was superior to azathioprine (AZA) as maintenance treatment.MethodsA total of 105 patients with lupus with proliferative LN were included. All received three daily intravenous pulses of 750 mg methylprednisolone, followed by oral glucocorticoids and six fortnightly cyclophosphamide intravenous pulses of 500 mg. Based on randomisation performed at baseline, AZA (target dose: 2 mg/kg/day) or MMF (target dose: 2 g/day) was given at week 12. Analyses were by intent to treat. Time to renal flare was the primary end point. Mean (SD) follow-up of the intent-to-treat population was 48 (14) months.ResultsThe baseline clinical, biological and pathological characteristics of patients allocated to AZA or MMF did not differ. Renal flares were observed in 13 (25%) AZA-treated and 10 (19%) MMF-treated patients. Time to renal flare, to severe systemic flare, to benign flare and to renal remission did not statistically differ. Over a 3-year period, 24 h proteinuria, serum creatinine, serum albumin, serum C3, haemoglobin and global disease activity scores improved similarly in both groups. Doubling of serum creatinine occurred in four AZA-treated and three MMF-treated patients. Adverse events did not differ between the groups except for haematological cytopenias, which were statistically more frequent in the AZA group (p=0.03) but led only one patient to drop out.ConclusionsFewer renal flares were observed in patients receiving MMF but the difference did not reach statistical significance.

Rituximab did not alleviate symptoms or disease activity in patients with pSS at week 24, although it alleviated some symptoms at earlier time points.