**2.8. Systemic vasculitis**

In the course of systemic vasculitis such as polyarteritis nodosa, Churga-Strauss syndrome, Wegener's granulomatosis, Behçet's disease, Takayasu disease, giant cell arteritis and Cogan syndrome there are changes in the organ of sight secondary to vascular changes. In polyarteri‐ tis nodosa ocular changes are observed in approximately 10-20% of patients [54,55], in Wegen‐ er's granuloma in 28-58% of patients [56,57] Behçet's disease in 68-85% of patients [58, 59, 60]. The ocular changes in course of inflammation of the large vessels, such as giant cell arteritis, are mainly associated with ischemia of optic nerve or retina. Ischemia causes impairment of vision and blindness, which may occur in 13 to 70% of patients [61,62]. The treatment of all systemic vasculitis requires agressive immunosuppressive therapy and high doses of glucocorticoids. In some cases of very active disease and no reaction to other treatment, especially in case of Wegener's granuloma, biological therapy (rituximab) is used [63,64]
