What are autoimmune diseases? The list of them is very wide and includes about 80 diseases of different course and clinical signs, which, however, are united by a single mechanism of development: for reasons still unknown to medicine, the immune system takes the cells of its own body as "enemies" and begins to destroy them.
One organ can get into the attack zone - then we are talking about an organ-specific form. If two or more organs are affected, then we are dealing with a systemic disease. Some of them can occur with or without systemic manifestations, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Some diseases are characterized by simultaneous damage to different organs, while others systemicity appears only in case of progression.
These are the most unpredictable diseases: they can suddenly appear and just as spontaneously disappear; appear once in a lifetime and never bother a person again; rapidly progress and endfatal… But most often they take a chronic form and require treatment throughout life.
Systemic autoimmune diseases. List
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autoimmune joint diseases Lupus erythematosus is the brightest representative of this group. A severe disease covers many organs and systems: skin, liver, joints, spleen, kidneys, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system.
- Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common disease. It can also occur without systemic manifestations. The articular syndrome is the leading one, in addition, the kidneys, lungs, skin, heart, eyes can be affected.
- Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis of the connective tissue. This chronic disease is characterized by an unpredictable course. It can progress rapidly and even lead to death. With scleroderma, degenerative changes and fibrosis of the skin, as well as blood vessels, joints and internal organs are observed.
- Systemic vasculitis is an extensive group of diseases and syndromes, united by a single symptom - inflammation and necrosis of the walls of blood vessels. Other organs are also involved in the pathological process: the heart, joints, skin, kidneys, eyes, lungs, etc. This category includes: Takayasu's arteritis, Wegener's granulomatosis, Behcet's syndrome, hemorrhagic vasculitis, microscopic polyarteritis and Kawasaki disease. In addition, giant cell arteritis, vasculitis in rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, periarteritis nodosa and others.
- Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic inflammatory lesion of the salivary and lacrimalglands, leading to dryness of the mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth. The pathological process can affect the lymphatic system, kidneys, liver, spleen, pancreas.
What other systemic autoimmune diseases are there? The list can be continued with such pathologies as:
- dermatopolymyositis is a severe, rapidly progressive lesion of the connective tissue involving the process of transversely smooth muscles, skin, internal organs;
- phospholipid syndrome, which is characterized by vein thrombosis;
- sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease most commonly affecting the lungs, but also the heart, kidneys, liver, brain, spleen, reproductive and endocrine systems, gastrointestinal tract, and other organs.
Organ-specific and mixed forms
Organ-specific types include primary myxedema, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, thyrotoxicosis (diffuse goiter), autoimmune gastritis, pernicious anemia, Addison's disease (adrenal cortex insufficiency), type 1 diabetes mellitus, and myasthenia gravis.
Mixed forms include Crohn's disease, primary biliary cirrhosis, celiac disease, chronic active hepatitis and others.
Autoimmune diseases. List by predominant symptoms
This type of pathology can be divided depending on which organ is predominantly affected. Such a list includes systemic, mixed, and organ-specific forms.
- Autoimmune joint diseases: spondyloarthropathies,rheumatoid arthritis.
- Nervous system disorders: multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Bare syndrome.
- Blood disorders: thrombocytopenic purpura, hemolytic anemia, autoimmune neutropenia.
- Endocrine diseases: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, diffuse toxic goiter.
- Pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract: autoimmune hepatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, biliary cirrhosis (primary), ulcerative colitis, sclerosing cholangitis (primary).
- Skin diseases: psoriasis, vitiligo, isolated skin vasculitis, chronic urticaria, bullous pemphigoid.
- Renal diseases: Goodpasture's syndrome, glomerolupaties and glomerolnephritis, other autoimmune diseases with renal syndrome.
- Heart pathologies: rheumatic fever, some types of myocarditis, vasculitis with cardiac syndrome.
- Lung diseases: fibrosing alveolitis, lung sarcoidosis, autoimmune diseases with pulmonary syndrome.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is based on the clinical picture and laboratory tests for autoimmune diseases. As a rule, they take a general, biochemical and immunological blood test.
