Tanaz Kermani, MD: Treatment Options for Vasculitis

Tanaz Kermani, MD, MS, is the director of the UCLA Vasculitis Program and an associate clinical professor for the Division of Rheumatology at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In this interview, we get more of her perspective around vasculitis care and how she came to the field.

Kermani joined Kenneth Warrington, MD, and Matthew Koster, MD, for a program called Institutional Perspectives in Rheumatology: ANCA-associated Vasculitis, as part of HCPLive’s® State of the Science series. The rheumatologists discussed the current state of vasculitis care specifically related to the burden of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). Kermani explained the 3 different forms of vaculitis and how each of them are treated.

"There are 2 parts after we diagnose a patient with vasculitis in terms of the treatment," she said. "The first part is the induction of remission, and that is usually with medications like rituximab, or cyclophosphamide. And then, the more important part is keeping these patients in maintenance."