URTICARIAL VASCULITIS IN CHILDREN

URTICARIAL VASCULITIS IN CHILDREN O. M. Оkhotnikova, O. A. Oshlyanskaya Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine Abstract. Different autoimmune diseases can present with organs malfunctioning and chronic urticaria symptoms in particular such urticarial vasculitis. This variant of vasculitis can be a separate nosological form, which includes a rare disease as hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome. In addition to chronic urticaria symptoms, hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome is characterized by severe systemic manifestations in different organs, decreased serum level of complement components, and appearance of specific markers, such as anti-C1q-antibodies. The diagnosis is confirmed by the results of skin biopsy, which is the «gold standard» of diagnosis. The condition often requires combined treatment with two immunosuppressive drugs. Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome is a very rare disease, but, because of the multisystem manifestations, it can be encountered by any specialist (pediatrician, general practitioner, allergist, rheumatologist, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, nephrologist, etc.), therefore doctors should consider this condition when dealing with such patients in order to reduce the risk of hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome misdiagnosis as the variants of chronic urticaria or another immunopathogenetic disease. That is why doctors should be well aware of the features of the course of this disease, not only to reduce the likelihood of erroneous diagnosis of urticarial vasculitis as chronic urticaria or another disease of immunopathological genesis, but also because modern therapy of these conditions is radically different from each other: сhronic idiopathic urticaria requires adherence to a modern patient management algorithm with the initial use of H1-antihistamines with a possible increase in the dose (up to a 4-fold increase), and with their low efficiency — the transition to the use of cytostatics, monoclonal antibodies against immunoglobulin E –omalizumab, and is extremely limited and only for short-term use of glucocorticosteroids. Key words: urticarial vasculitis, its forms, hypocomplementemia, chronic urticaria, children. Olena Okhotnikova MD, PhD, professor, Head Department of Pediatrics #1, Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine, 9, Dorogozhytska str., 04112, Kyiv, Ukraine e-mail: kafedra.ped1@gmail.com Аsthma and Allergy, 2021, 3, P. 16–29.