118 results match your criteria: "Vasculitis Center[Affiliation]"
A multicentre study to improve clinical interpretation of proteinase-3 and myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies.
Rheumatology (Oxford)
September 2017
Central Diagnostic Laboratory, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
A multicentre study to improve clinical interpretation of proteinase-3 and myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies.
Rheumatology (Oxford)
September 2017
Central Diagnostic Laboratory, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Objective: The objective of this multicentre study was to improve the clinical interpretation of PR3- and MPO-ANCAs as an adjunct for the diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) by defining thresholds and test result intervals based on predefined specificities and by calculating test result interval-specific likelihood ratios (LRs).
Methods: Eight different PR3- and MPO-ANCA immunoassays from seven companies were evaluated using 251 diagnostic samples from AAV patients and 924 diseased controls.
Results: Thresholds for antibody levels were determined based on predefined specificities (95, 97.
Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Contain Selected Antigens of Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies.
Front Immunol
April 2017
Laboratory of Molecular Inflammation, Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are chromatin filaments decorated with enzymes from neutrophil cytoplasmic granules. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) bind to enzymes from neutrophil cytoplasmic granules and are biomarkers for the diagnosis of systemic vasculitides. ANCA diagnostics are based on indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) of ethanol-fixed neutrophils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies: reporting and diagnostic strategies.
Ann Rheum Dis
October 2017
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Evidence-based recommendations on the management of extrahepatic manifestations of chronic hepatitis C virus infection.
J Hepatol
June 2017
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR 7211, and Inflammation-Immunopathology-Biotherapy Department (DHU i2B), F-75005 Paris, France; INSERM, UMR_S 959, F-75013 Paris, France; CNRS, FRE3632, F-75005 Paris, France; AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology, F-75013 Paris, France.
Health Equity Considerations for Developing and Reporting Patient-reported Outcomes in Clinical Trials: A Report from the OMERACT Equity Special Interest Group.
J Rheumatol
November 2017
From the Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventative Medicine, University of Ottawa; Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group, University of Ottawa; Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute; Department of Pediatrics and School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Clinical Epidemiology Program; Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa; Musculoskeletal Health and Outcomes Research, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital; Institute for Work and Health; Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta; Division of Rheumatology Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC); Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, UBC, Vancouver; Arthritis Research Canada, Richmond; Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon; Division of Rheumatology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina; Quintiles IMS, Denver, Colorado; Department of Medicine, Rheumatology Division, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin; University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama; Department of Orthopedics, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota; Penn Vasculitis Center, Division of Rheumatology, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; University of the West of England, Bristol, UK; VU University Medical Centre, Department Medical Humanities, EMGO+ Research Institute, Amsterdam; Department Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Maastricht University Medical Center; Caphri Graduate School Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Musculoskeletal Statistics Unit, The Parker Institute; Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department Internal Medicine II, Rheumatology, Schlosspark-Klinik Berlin, Charité - Medical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Institute and Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; University of Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Objective: Despite advances integrating patient-centered outcomes into rheumatologic studies, concerns remain regarding their representativeness across diverse patient groups and how this affects equity. The Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Equity Working Group aims to determine whether and how to address equity issues within the core outcome sets of domains and instruments.
Methods: We surveyed current and previous OMERACT meeting attendees and members of the Campbell and Cochrane Equity Group regarding whether to address equity issues within the OMERACT Filter 2.
Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies: appropriate use and interpretation.
Ann Rheum Dis
August 2017
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
A Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Risk Alleles in Plasminogen and P4HA2 Associated with Giant Cell Arteritis.
Am J Hum Genet
January 2017
Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina "López-Neyra," CSIC, PTS Granada, Granada 18016, Spain.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common form of vasculitis in individuals older than 50 years in Western countries. To shed light onto the genetic background influencing susceptibility for GCA, we performed a genome-wide association screening in a well-powered study cohort. After imputation, 1,844,133 genetic variants were analyzed in 2,134 case subjects and 9,125 unaffected individuals from ten independent populations of European ancestry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental factor and inflammation-driven alteration of the total peripheral T-cell compartment in granulomatosis with polyangiitis.
J Autoimmun
March 2017
Department of Rheumatology & Vasculitis Center UKSH, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany. Electronic address:
Autoimmune diseases are initiated by a combination of predisposing genetic and environmental factors resulting in self-perpetuating chronic inflammation and tissue damage. Autoantibody production and an imbalance of effector and regulatory T-cells are hallmarks of autoimmune dysregulation. While expansion of circulating effector memory T-cells is linked to disease pathogenesis and progression, the causes driving alterations of the peripheral T-cell compartment have remained poorly understood so far.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDevelopment and validation of case-finding algorithms for the identification of patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis in large healthcare administrative databases.
Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
December 2016
Vasculitis Center, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and validate case-finding algorithms for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's, GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and eosinophilic GPA (Churg-Strauss, EGPA).
Methods: Two hundred fifty patients per disease were randomly selected from two large healthcare systems using the International Classification of Diseases version 9 (ICD9) codes for GPA/EGPA (446.4) and MPA (446.
Rate of Comorbidities in Giant Cell Arteritis: A Population-based Study.
J Rheumatol
January 2017
From the Department of Clinical Sciences, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University; Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Orthopedics, Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Vasculitis and Lupus Clinic, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK; Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Penn Vasculitis Center, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Objective: To compare the rate of occurrence of comorbidities, including severe infections, in a population-based cohort of patients with biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (GCA) with a reference population in Southern Sweden.
Methods: The study included a population-based cohort of biopsy-proven GCA cases diagnosed between 1998 and 2010 from the Skåne region in Southern Sweden (population: 1.2 million).
Objective: We investigated the relationships between glucocorticoid use, disease activity, and changes in body mass index (BMI) in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV).
Methods: We analyzed AAV patients enrolled in the Rituximab in AAV trial. Glucocorticoid use, BMI, and disease activity were measured regularly during the trial period.
International diagnostic guidelines for patients with HCV-related extrahepatic manifestations. A multidisciplinary expert statement.
Autoimmun Rev
December 2016
Sorbonne University, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7211, and Inflammation-Immunopathology-Biotherapy Department (DHU i2B), Paris, France; INSERM, UMR S 959, Paris, France; CNRS, FRE3632 Paris, France; AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Paris, France.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is responsible for both hepatic and extra-hepatic disorders (HCV-EHDs); these latter are correlated on one hand clearly with HCV lymphotropism causing immune-system dysregulation as well as with viral oncogenic potential, and on the other hand probably with chronic inflammatory status causing cardio-metabolic complications as well as neurocognitive disturbances. The spectrum of HCV-EHDs ranges from mild or moderate manifestations, such as arthralgia, sicca syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, to severe, life-threatening complications, mainly vasculitis and neoplastic conditions. Given the clinical heterogeneity of HCV-EHDs, HCV-infected individuals are inevitably referred to different specialists according to the presenting/prevalent symptom(s); therefore, the availability of comprehensive diagnostic guidelines is necessary for a patient's whole assessment that is decisive for early diagnosis and correct therapeutic approach of various hepatic and HCV-EHDs, regardless of the specific competencies of different physicians or referral centers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComorbidities in Patients with Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-associated Vasculitis versus the General Population.
J Rheumatol
August 2016
From the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Orthopaedics, Clinical Sciences Lund, and Department of Clinical Sciences, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund; Department of Nephrology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Penn Vasculitis Center, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland; the Vasculitis and Lupus Clinic, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.M. Englund, MD, PhD, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Orthopaedics, Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, and Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston University School of Medicine; P.A. Merkel, MD, MPH, Penn Vasculitis Center, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania; G. Tomasson, MD, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland; M. Segelmark, MD, PhD, Department of Nephrology, Linköping University; A.J. Mohammad, MD, PhD, Department of Clinical Sciences, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund, and the Vasculitis and Lupus Clinic, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.
Objective: To evaluate the consultation rates of selected comorbidities in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) compared with the general population in southern Sweden.
Methods: We used data from a population-based cohort of patients with AAV diagnosed between 1998 and 2010 in Southern Sweden (701,000 inhabitants). For each patient we identified 4 reference subjects randomly sampled from the general population and matched for year of birth, sex, area of residence, and index year.
Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis: Challenges and Opportunities.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
June 2018
The Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center, Baltimore, Md. Electronic address:
The Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score as a Measure of Disease Activity in Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis.
J Rheumatol
June 2016
From the Division of Rheumatology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Department of Biostatistics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA; Division of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Center for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Division of Rheumatology, St. Joseph's Healthcare, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Division of Rheumatology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Division of Rheumatology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Vasculitis Center, Section of Rheumatology, and the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Division of Rheumatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.T.A. Kermani, MD, MS, Division of Rheumatology, University of California, Los Angeles; D. Cuthbertson, MS, Department of Biostatistics, University of South Florida; S. Carette, MD, FRCPC, Division of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospital; G.S. Hoffman, MD, MS, Center for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic; N.A. Khalidi, MD, FRCPC, Division of Rheumatology, St. Joseph's Healthcare, McMaster University; C.L. Koening, MD, MS, Division of Rheumatology, University of Utah; C.A. Langford, MD, MHS, Center for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic; K. McKinnon-Maksimowicz, DO, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pittsburgh; C.A. McAlear, MA, Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Pennsylvania; P.A. Monach, MD, PhD, The Vasculitis Center, Section of Rheumatology, and the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Boston University School of Medicine; P. Seo, MD, MHS, Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University; K.J. Warrington, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Mayo Clinic
Objective: To evaluate the performance of the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) in the assessment of disease activity in giant cell arteritis (GCA).
Methods: Patients with GCA enrolled in a prospective, multicenter, longitudinal study with symptoms of active vasculitis during any visit were included. Spearman's rank correlation was used to explore the association of the BVAS with other measures of disease activity.
Evaluation of automated multi-parametric indirect immunofluorescence assays to detect anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA).
Autoimmun Rev
July 2016
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address:
Objectives: The aim of this multicenter EUVAS study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of multi-parametric indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assays to detect anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA).
Patients And Methods: The study included 912 samples from diseased controls and 249 diagnostic samples from GPA (n=183) and MPA (n=66) patients. The performance of two automated multi-parametric assays [Aklides (Medipan/Generic Assays) and EuroPattern (Euroimmun)] combining IIF on cellular and purified antigen substrates was compared with two manual IIF analyses and with commercially available ELISAs for MPO- and PR3-ANCA (Euroimmun).
Effector memory T‑cells in the pathogenesis of ANCA-associated vasculitides.
Z Rheumatol
March 2017
Department of Rheumatology, University of Lübeck & Vasculitis Center UKSH, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538, Lübeck, Germany.
Patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAV) have an expansion of effector memory T‑cells in peripheral blood. The enlarged effector memory cell population contains distinct cell subsets, including T‑helper type 1 (Th1) CD4 T‑cells lacking co-stimulatory CD28 expression and Th17 cells in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and Th2 type and Th17 cells in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA). The cytokine response of autoreactive proteinase 3 (PR3)-specific effector memory T‑cells is skewed towards an increase of Th2 type, Th17, and Th22 cell fractions in GPA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyclophosphamide treatment-induced leukopenia rates in ANCA-associated vasculitis are influenced by variant CYP450 2C9 genotypes.
Pharmacogenomics
March 2016
Institute for Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
Aim: Correlation of outcomes of cyclophosphamide (CP) therapy in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis with genotype polymorphisms in prodrug activating cytochrome P450 enzyme genes CYP2C9 and CYP2C19.
Patients & Methods: One hundred and ninety six patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis treated with CP, either as intravenous pulse or as daily oral medication, were included. Genotypes of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 were correlated with clinical outcomes (leukopenia, infection, urotoxicity and treatment response).
Vasculitis in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases: A study of 32 patients and systematic review of the literature.
Semin Arthritis Rheum
February 2016
Division of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, The Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Building, 60 Murray St, Ste 2-220, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 3L9. Electronic address:
Background: Published small case series suggest that inflammatory bowel disease [IBD; Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC)] and vasculitis co-occur more frequently than would be expected by chance.
Objectives: To describe this association by an analysis of a large cohort of carefully studied patients and through a systematic literature review.
Methods: Patients with both IBD and vasculitis enrolled in the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC) Longitudinal Studies, followed in Canadian Vasculitis research network (CanVasc) centers and/or in the University of Toronto's IBD clinic were included in this case series.
Treatment failure by canakinumab in a patient with progressive multisystemic Erdheim-Chester disease refractory to anakinra: successful use of vemurafenib.
Rheumatology (Oxford)
October 2015
Vasculitis Center, Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Klinikum Bad Bramstedt and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Bad Bramstedt and.
Older patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis and dialysis dependent renal failure: a retrospective study.
BMC Nephrol
June 2015
Division of Nephrology, Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Background: ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) with renal involvement is not uncommon in older individuals. Unfortunately, this can be catastrophic requiring hemodialysis (HD) and may lead to end stage renal disease (ESRD). However, more than 50 % of patients with AAV who require HD initially have renal recovery and discontinue HD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComparability of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis enrolled in clinical trials or in observational cohorts.
Clin Exp Rheumatol
August 2015
Department of Internal Medicine, National Referral Center for Necrotising Vasculitides and Systemic Sclerosis, Department of Internal Medicine, Hôpital Cochin, University Paris-Descartes, Paris, France.
Objectives: To analyse the differences between patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) or microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) entered into randomised clinical trials (RCTs) and those followed in large observational cohorts.
Methods: The main characteristics and outcomes of patients with generalised and/or severe GPA or MPA with a five-factor score ≥ 1 enrolled in the French Vasculitis Study Group (FVSG) or the US-Canadian-based Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium cohorts were compared to those enrolled in one of 2 FVSG clinical RCTs (WEG91, WEGENT) or 3 European Vasculitis Society clinical trials (CYCLOPS, CYCAZAREM, IMPROVE).
Results: 657 patients (65.
Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss) (EGPA) Consensus Task Force recommendations for evaluation and management.
Eur J Intern Med
September 2015
Department of Internal Medicine, National Referral Center for Rare Autoimmune and Systemic Diseases (Vasculitis, Scleroderma), INSERM U1016, Hôpital Cochin, APHP, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France. Electronic address:
Objective: To develop disease-specific recommendations for the diagnosis and management of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss syndrome) (EGPA).
Methods: The EGPA Consensus Task Force experts comprised 8 pulmonologists, 6 internists, 4 rheumatologists, 3 nephrologists, 1 pathologist and 1 allergist from 5 European countries and the USA. Using a modified Delphi process, a list of 40 questions was elaborated by 2 members and sent to all participants prior to the meeting.
Cardiac Involvement in Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis.
J Rheumatol
July 2015
From the Division of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Health Informatics Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida; Center for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Division of Rheumatology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Division of Rheumatology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Division of Rheumatology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Vasculitis Center, Section of Rheumatology, and the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and the Division of Rheumatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.L. McGeoch, MD; S. Carette, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospital; D. Cuthbertson, MS, Health Informatics Institute, University of South Florida; G.S. Hoffman, MD, Center for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic; N. Khalidi, MD, Division of Rheumatology, McMaster University; C.L. Koening, MD, Division of Rheumatology, University of Utah; C.A. Langford, MD, Center for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic; C.A. McAlear, MA, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania; L. Moreland, MD, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pittsburgh; P.A. Monach, MD, PhD, The Vasculitis Center, Section of Rheumatology, and the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Boston University School of Medicine; P. Seo, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University; U. Specks, MD, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; S.R. Ytterberg, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine; P.A. Merkel, MD, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania; C. Pagnoux, MD, MSc, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospital.
Objective: To determine frequency and outcomes of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA)-related cardiac disease in a North American GPA cohort.
Methods: Analysis was done of all patients in the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium Longitudinal Study of GPA. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with and without GPA-related cardiac involvement were compared.