This lecture provides an overview of imaging approaches for vasculitis, emphasizing the relationship between vascular inflammation, structural vessel damage, and clinical complications. The session reviews the classification of vasculitis by vessel size and discusses the strengths and limitations of ultrasound, MRI/MRA, CT angiography, and FDG PET/CT in evaluating inflammatory vascular disease. Through illustrative cases, the lecture demonstrates how imaging can identify vessel wall inflammation, stenosis, aneurysm formation, and ischemic complications across a spectrum of large-, medium-, and small-vessel vasculitides, including giant cell arteritis, Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, and Kawasaki disease.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lecture, participants will be able to:

• Classify vasculitides according to vessel size and recognize their characteristic imaging manifestations.
• Compare the roles of ultrasound, MRI/MRA, CT angiography, and FDG PET/CT in the assessment of vascular inflammation.
• Identify imaging findings of active vasculitis, including vessel wall thickening, edema, contrast enhancement, and metabolic activity.
• Recognize vascular complications such as stenosis, occlusion, aneurysm formation, and end-organ ischemia.
• Differentiate key imaging features of common vasculitic disorders, including giant cell arteritis, Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, and Kawasaki disease.
• Understand important differential diagnoses and factors, such as steroid therapy, that may influence imaging interpretation.