Research

Since granulomatosis with polyangiitis is one of the so-called "rare diseases", which affect only five to seven people out of 100,000 people, the area is still largely unexplored. In recent years, however, more and more studies and research projects have been initiated, for example to standardise the diagnosis and classification of the diseases internationally. GPA is a form of vasculitis, the umbrella term for autoimmune vascular diseases. For this reason, many of the studies do not explicitly deal with GPA, but frequently with vasculitis or ANCA-associated diseases.

We offer a small overview of a selection of studies, as well as links to the various study collections.

Pediatric Vasculitis Initiative (PedVas)

The aim of this study is to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of children with vasculitis. As these already rare diseases occur even less frequently in children, the knowledge and experience of several doctors will be brought together. The aim is to achieve the best possible treatment with the best possible results. It is precisely because some drugs used for therapy have toxic effects that it is easier to find a suitable, effective treatment option by comparing patients with similar values. A further advantage of children as a patient group is that their clinical picture is less frequently influenced by additional diseases such as age, alcohol, smoking, etc. and they are therefore better suited for research into the underlying biology of vasculitis.

DCVAS – Diagnostic and Classification Criteria in Vasculitis Study

The DCVAS is an international study that is intended to generalize and unify diagnosis and classification. on the one hand, this should facilitate diagnotics, so that the appropriate therapy can be started as quickly as possible. In addition. It also aims at dividing patients into clear groups in order to be able to carry out studies and trials based on the individual types of vasculitis. Provisional classification criteria have been formulated for GPA and MPA, though these previous criteria were established over 20 years ago, where many of today’s diagnostic tests, such as ANCA antibody determinations, were not available yet.

EUVAS (European Vasculitis Society)

A collection of studies on current studies on diseases with vasculitis.

Vasculitis Foundation

The Vasculitis Foundation is the biggest private sponsor for research on vasculitis. On their website they offer an overview of all the research projects and studies they funded and supported.

Rare diseases network: vasculitis clinical research consortium

A collection of current studies on vasculitis. (GPA subitem 7)