Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a systemic necrotizing inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) affecting medium-sized muscular arteries, typically involving the arteries of the kidneys and other internal organs but generally sparing the lungs circulation. Small aneurysms are strung like the beads of a rosary, therefore making this "rosary sign" an important diagnostic feature of the vasculitis. PAN is sometimes associated with infection by the hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus. The condition may be present in infants.PAN is a rare disease. With treatment, five-year survival is 80%; without treatment, five-year survival is 13%. Death is often a consequence of kidney failure, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Signs and symptoms
PAN may affect nearly every organ system and thus can present with a broad array of signs and symptoms. These manifestations result from ischemic damage to affected organs, often the skin, heart, kidneys, and nervous system. Constitutional symptoms are seen in up to 90% of affected individuals and include fever, fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, and unintentional weight loss.Skin: The skin may show rashes, swelling, necrotic ulcers, and subcutaneous nodules (lumps). Skin manifestations of PAN include palpable purpura and livedo reticularis in some individuals.Neurologic system: Nerve involvement may cause sensory changes with numbness, pain, burning, and weakness (peripheral neuropathy). Peripheral nerves are often affected, and this most commonly presents as mononeuritis multiplex, which is the most common neurologic sign of PAN. Mononeuritis multiplex develops in more than 70% of patients with polyarteritis nodosa because of damage to arteries supplying large peripheral nerves.
Skin cells and red blood cells of affected people will have low levels of β-glucuronidase activity. Sly syndrome can also be diagnosed through prenatal testing. Treatment
Vestronidase alfa-vjbk (trade name Mepsevii), an enzyme replacement therapy which is a recombinant form of human β-glucuronidase, is approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Sly syndrome. Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) has been used to treat other types of MPS diseases, but this is not yet available for MPS-VII. Animal experiments suggest that HSCT may be an effective treatment for MPS-VII in humans. Prognosis
The life expectancy of individuals with MPS VII varies depending on the symptoms. Some individuals are stillborn, while some may survive into adulthood. Epidemiology
MPS-VII is one of the rarest forms of MPS. It occurs in less than 1 in 250,000 births. As a family, MPS diseases occur in 1 in 25,000 births, and the larger family of lysosomal storage diseases occur in 1 out of 7,000 to 8,000 births. History
Sly syndrome was originally discovered in 1972. It was named after its discoverer William S. Sly, an American biochemist who has spent nearly his entire academic career at Saint Louis University. References


== External links ==