[Periarteritis nodosa: clinical and therapeutic study of 126 patients followed-up during 23 years].

A hundred and twenty-six patients with systemic polyarteritis nodosa (PN) were studied over a 23 year period. The clinical symptoms and paraclinical data of PN are reviewed, and the results obtained by the different therapeutic approaches used during this period are presented: steroids alone and then associated with immunosuppressors and, in the most recent cases, associated with plasma exchange. The actuarial survival of patients in this retrospective and unrandomised series was comparable whether steroids were used alone or with immunosuppressors. The different therapeutic approaches in PAN are discussed especially with respect to the role of immunosuppressor therapy and plasma exchange.