Table 1

Topics addressed by the two SLRs

SLRs informing the 2018 update of EULAR recommendations for the management of LVV
Participants were patients with the following diagnoses: giant cell arteritis or Takayasu arteritis, or other types of LVV (isolated aortitis or IgG4-related disease with vasculitis).
SLR 1: Diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring SLR 2: Drug and surgical treatment

  • Diagnosis: recognition, referral criteria, fast-track diagnosis, role of imaging for diagnosis, role of biopsy for diagnosis, interdisciplinary workup, considerations for subtypes of disease such as cranial/ischaemic/large vessel, isolated aortitis, IgG4related disease, LVV disease in other vasculitides.

  • Prognostic and therapeutic implications of disease phenotypes: cranial versus extracranial, isolated aortitis, other forms including IgG4-related disease, imaging, other biomarkers, comorbidities and complications, disease damage versus activity.

  • Long-term follow-up of patients: clinical assessments and frequency, imaging, patient-reported outcomes, physical therapies and management of complications.

  • Patient education and other aspects of patients-centred care.

  • Drug therapy: dosing, length of therapy, outcome and treatment-related side effects for the following drugs: glucocorticoids, methotrexate and other non-biological immunosuppressive agents (csDMARDs), tocilizumab and other biological DMARDs (bDMARDs).

  • Specific treatment of organ complications: loss of vision and stroke), relapsing, refractory, glucocorticoid-dependent disease.

  • Revascularisation procedures: indications for referral, management of aneurysms and/or vessel stenosis.

  • Adjunctive therapies and prophylaxis: aspirin, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, infections, vaccination, osteoporosis.

  • bDMARDs, biological DMARDs; csDMARDs, conventional synthetic antirheumatic drugs ; LVV, large vessel vasculitis; SLRs, systematic literature reviews.