Vasculitis
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Vasculitis is defined as inflammation, primarily of small blood vessels. It is observed in many infectious and septic diseases and is classified by the layer of the vessel wall affected and the nature of the process. The condition is not yet fully understood and its status as a distinct pathological and clinical entity is debated.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
VASCULITIS, vasculitis (from Latin vasculum—small vessel), denotes inflammation, primarily of small vessels. Along with this designation, there are also the terms arteritis capillaris or arteriolitis for the inflammation of arterioles, and phlebitis capillaris for small veins. Vasculitis is observed in many infectious and septic diseases (for example, in typhus, sepsis lenta, and others). Depending on the localization of changes in a given layer of the vascular wall, three types of vasculitis are distinguished: endovasculitis, mesovasculitis, and perivasculitis. In addition, depending on the character of the process, proliferative, destructive, and thrombotic vasculitis are distinguished (for example, typhus thrombovasculitis, rheumatic proliferative perivasculitis, and others). Vasculitis is still not sufficiently studied; it is unclear whether it deserves to be distinguished at all as a special pathological-anatomical, and even more so clinical, form. Perhaps deserving special mention is the systemic disease of small vessels observed fairly rarely—periarteritis nodosa.
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“Vasculitis.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/vasculitis/