What are autoimmune diseases? List of pathologies

What are autoimmune diseases? Their list is very wide and includes about 80 different in the course and clinical signs of disease, which, however, unites a single mechanism of development: for reasons unknown until now, the immune system takes the cells of its own organism for "enemies" and begins to destroy them.

In the attack zone can get one organ - then it's about the organ-specific form. If two organs or more are affected, then we are dealing with a systemic disease. Some of them can occur both with systemic manifestations, and without them, for example rheumatoid arthritis. Some diseases are characterized by a simultaneous lesion of different organs, while in others the systemic nature appears only in the case of progression.

These are the most unpredictable diseases: they can suddenly arise and also spontaneously pass; To appear once in life and never to disturb a person again; Quickly progress and end with a lethal outcome ... But most often they take a chronic form and require treatment throughout their lives.

Systemic autoimmune diseases. List

1. Red lupus is the brightest representative of this group. Severe disease covers many organs and systems: skin, liver, joints, spleen, kidneys, lungs, GIT, cardiovascular system.
2. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common disease. It can also occur without systemic manifestations. Articular syndrome is the leading, except for this, kidneys, lungs, skin, heart, eyes can be affected.
3. Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis of connective tissue. This chronic disease is characterized by unpredictability of the course. It can quickly progress and even lead to death. With scleroderma, degenerative changes and fibrosis of the skin, as well as vessels, joints and internal organs are observed.
4. Systemic vasculitis is a vast group of diseases and syndromes, united by a single sign - inflammation and necrosis of the walls of blood vessels. Other organs are involved in the pathological process: the heart, joints, skin, kidneys, eyes, lungs, etc. This category includes: Takayasu 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, nodular periarteritis and others.
5. Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic inflammatory lesion of the salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to dryness of the mucous membranes of the eyes and oral cavity. 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:

• Dermatopolymiositis - a severe, rapidly progressive lesion of connective tissue involving the process of transverse smooth muscle, skin, internal organs;
• Phospholipid syndrome, which is characterized by vein thrombosis;
• Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease that most often affects the lungs, as well as the heart, kidneys, liver, brain, spleen, reproductive and endocrine systems, GIT and other organs.

Organospecific and mixed forms

To organ-specific types include primary myxedema, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, thyrotoxicosis (diffuse goiter), autoimmune gastritis, pernicious anemia, Addison's disease (insufficiency of the adrenal cortex), type 1 diabetes and severe myasthenia gravis.

Of the mixed forms should be called Crohn's disease, primary biliary cirrhosis, celiac disease, chronic active hepatitis and others.

Autoimmune diseases. List of prevailing symptoms

This type of pathology can be divided depending on which organ is predominantly affected. This list includes systemic, mixed, and organ-specific forms.

• Autoimmune diseases of the joints: spondyloarthropathies, rheumatoid arthritis.
• Defeats of the nervous system: multiple sclerosis, myasthenia Graves, Guillain-Barre syndrome.
• Diseases of the blood: thrombocytopenic purpura, hemolytic anemia, autoimmune neutropenia.
• Endocrine diseases: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, diffuse toxic goiter.
• Pathology 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 syndrome, glomerolopathy and glomerolonephritis, and other autoimmune diseases with renal syndrome.
• Cardiac pathologies: rheumatic fever, certain types of myocarditis, vasculitis with cardiac syndrome.
• Diseases of the lung: fibrosing alveolitis, pulmonary sarcoidosis, autoimmune diseases with pulmonary syndrome.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis is based on the clinical picture and laboratory tests for autoimmune diseases. As a rule, they give a general, biochemical and immunological analysis of blood.