Polyarteritis.

Last updated Monday, December 27, 2004

Diagnosis and evaluation

Diagnosis

PAN may be difficult to diagnose because it produces many different symptoms in different people. Unfortunately, there is no single laboratory test or X-ray that can give a definite diagnosis. Your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and give you a physical examination. This helps rule out other causes of the symptoms. Next, your doctor usually will need to confirm that vasculitis is present.

Vasculitis in a medium-sized artery is detected in two ways:

1. A biopsy (or small sample of skin, muscle, kidney, or nerve) is removed and examined under a microscope. If vasculitis is present, the arteries in the sample will contain abnormal cells that appear only when inflammation is present.
2. Special X-ray studies of the blood vessels (angiogram) can show narrowing, irregularities, or blockages that are caused by vasculitis. In this procedure, a dye that shows up on X-rays is injected into a blood vessel, and several X-rays are taken as the dye flows through the vessels.

Your doctor may need to do both a biopsy and an angiogram to diagnose PAN. Other blood tests and X-rays usually are done to rule out other diseases that could cause similar symptoms.

Health care team

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