Long-term outcome of children with pediatric-onset cutaneous and visceral polyarteritis nodosa

ObjectiveTo assess the prognostic impact of clinical presentation in children with polyarteritis nodosa (PAN).MethodsChildren diagnosed between 1986 and 2006 in a tertiary care pediatric rheumatology center were classified as “cutaneous PAN” (group 1), “cutaneous PAN with significant extra-cutaneous features” (group 2) or “visceral childhood PAN” (group 3). Outcome measures: (1) clinical remission off-therapy at last follow-up, (2) requirement and length of glucocorticoid therapy, (3) presence of disease-related sequelae.ResultsTwenty-nine children were included. Sixteen met the Ankara criteria for PAN. Nine patients were qualified as group 1, 11 as group 2, and 9 as group 3. At last follow-up, 15 children were in clinical remission off-therapy: 4 from group 1 (44%), 4 from group 2 (36%) and 7 from group 3 (78%). Glucocorticoid therapy was required for 8 (89%), 7 (64%) and 7 (78%) patients from groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Seven children did not require any glucocorticoid therapy. Time-dependent probability of achieving glucocorticoid-free clinical remission was similar between the three groups. Three patients (one from each group) had digital ischemia leading to amputation. There were no significant between-group differences in outcome based on the three outcome measures addressed.ConclusionOutcome was not strikingly predictable from initial presentation in children with PAN. The organ distribution-based distinction between cutaneous and visceral PAN had little prognostic power in this series.