[Rheumatic diseases and atherosclerosis: a role of rheological and microcirculatory impairments].

The lecture deals with the present-day views on the role of an inflammatory component in the development of atherosclerosis and accelerated formation of atherosclerotic lesions in autoimmune-aetiology vasculitis syndromes characteristic of rheumatic diseases. Both processes are typically manifested by lesions of the vascular wall in the form of inflammation, thrombosis, necrosis, and subsequent sclerotic alterations. The common links of the pathogenesis of these processes are associated with immune-system impairments, rheological and microcirculatory disorders, endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis, and dyslipoproteidaemia.