Vaskulárna medicína 1/2026
Current classification of vasculitis: integration of ACR/EULAR criteria into clinical practice
The revised Chapel Hill Consensus Conference (CHCC) 2012 continues to represent the fundamental framework for the nomenclature and classification of vasculitides, based primarily on the size of the affected vessels, the clinical phenotype, and in small-vessel vasculitides also on immunopathological characteristics. This nomenclature was subsequently complemented by the 2022 classification criteria of the American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (ACR/EULAR), particularly for large-vessel vasculitides and ANCA-associated vasculitides. The ACR/EULAR criteria for large-vessel vasculitides reflect current clinical practice, including the role of non-invasive imaging modalities in diagnosis, and introduce specific patient age thresholds as an absolute requirement for classification. The ultrasonographic halo sign and positive angiographic findings have diagnostic value comparable to temporal artery biopsy. The new criteria demonstrate higher sensitivity for large-vessel involvement while maintaining comparable specificity to the original criteria. Despite these advances, vasculitis mimickers remain a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, underscoring the need for multidisciplinary collaboration among clinicians.
Keywords: vasculitis, large vessel vasculitis, classification
