Malignancy Risk in Vasculitis

The vasculitides encompass a rare subset of autoimmune diseases. Reports of the concurrent association of malignancies with some forms of vasculitis raise the possibility that patients with certain types of vasculitis may be at increased risk of cancer. Conversely, some forms of vasculitis may be a manifestation of malignancy. We review cancer risk in patients with large vessel vasculitis (giant cell arteritis and Takayasu arteritis), polyarteritis nodosa, and the circulating antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitides. In addition we discuss vasculitis as a paraneoplastic phenomenon, highlighting polyarteritis nodosa in association with hairy cell leukemia and reviewing the most common vasculitic manifestation of cancer, cutaneous vasculitis.