First Description
Giant cell arteritis (temporal arteritis) is a form of vasculitis that affects your large arteries, especially in your head, eyes, neck and arms.
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Giant Cell Arteritis Warnings
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common primary vasculitis in adults. Giant cell arteritis is also known as temporal arteritis. Patients with GCA commonly complain of viion loss, headache, jaw claudication, diplopia, myalgias, and constitutional symptoms.
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Written by: Dr. Haonan Mi (Internal Medicine Resident) Reviewed by: Dr. Tanveer Towheed (Rheumatology) and Dr. Zijing Wu (General Internal Medicine) Infographic: Lucy Lan (Medical Student) Resources: NEJM - Giant Cell Arteritis and Polymyalgia Rheumatica EULAR recommendations for the u
Temporal arteritis occurs when the temporal arteries, which supply blood to the head and brain, become inflamed or damaged.
Polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis are common, closely related vasculitic conditions that almost exclusively occur in patients older than 50 years. They may be manifestations of the same underlying disease and often coexist. Patients with polymyalgia rheumatica usually present with acute onset of stiffness and pain in the shoulder and pelvic musculature, which may be accompanied by fever, malaise, and weight loss. If untreated, polymyalgia rheumatica may result in significant disability. Giant cell arteritis may manifest as visual loss or diplopia, abnormalities of the temporal artery such as tenderness or decreased pulsation, jaw claudication, and new-onset headaches. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and temporal artery biopsy help make the diagnosis. Giant cell arteritis requires urgent diagnosis because without treatment it may lead to irreversible blindness. Patients with either condition also may have nonspecific symptoms. Corticosteroids are the mainstay of therapy for both conditions, with higher doses required for treatment of giant cell arteritis. Duration of corticosteroid therapy can be five years or longer before complete clinical remission is achieved. Monitoring for corticosteroid-associated side effects such as osteoporosis and diabetes, as well as for relapses and flare-ups, is key to chronic management. The prognosis for either condition, if treated, is good.
Giant Cell Arteritis: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) or temporal arteritis is the most common form of vasculitis that occurs in adults affecting the large
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Research in Temporal Arteritis Suggests Link with Infection, Autoimmune Disease
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a type of systemic vasculitis that primarily affects people over the age of 50 and affects the medium to large arteries. GCA's clinical manifestations can be varied and non-specific, similar to those observed in atherosclerosis. Here, the authors present a case of an elderly woman with pulmonary tuberculosis with GCA masquerading as atherosclerosis.
Giant cell arteritis, or temporal arteritis, is an inflammatory disease that affects large blood vessels in the head. Learn about CGA symptoms & treatment.
Objective. To identify shared and distinct features of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to reduce diagnostic errors that could cause delays in correct treatment. Methods. Two systematic literature reviews determined the frequency of clinical features of GCA and COVID-19 in published reports. Frequencies in each disease were summarized using medians and ranges. Results. Headache was common in GCA but was also observed in COVID-19 (GCA 66%, COVID-19 10%). Jaw claudication or visual loss (43% and 26% in GCA, respectively) generally were not reported in COVID-19. Both diseases featured fatigue (GCA 38%, COVID-19 43%) and elevated inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP] elevated in 100% of GCA, 66% of COVID-19), but platelet count was elevated in 47% of GCA but only 4% of COVID-19 cases. Cough and fever were commonly reported in COVID-19 and less frequently in GCA (cough, 63% for COVID-19 vs 12% for GCA; fever, 83% for COVID-19 vs 27% for GCA). Gastrointestinal upset was occasionally reported in COVID-19 (8%), rarely in GCA (4%). Lymphopenia was more common in COVID-19 than GCA (53% in COVID-19, 2% in GCA). Alteration of smell and taste have been described in GCA but their frequency is unclear. Conclusion. Overlapping features of GCA and COVID-19 include headache, fever, elevated CRP and cough. Jaw claudication, visual loss, platelet count and lymphocyte count may be more discriminatory. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of diagnostic confusion. We have designed a simple checklist to aid evidence-based evaluation of patients with suspected GCA.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) can produce a variety of visual symptoms. Among these, visual hallucinations are rare and are usually accompanied by visual loss. We encountered a 79-year-old female with GCA who presented with visual hallucinations without visual loss. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head revealed a stroke in the right frontal lobe, probably caused by GCA, resulting in visual hallucinations. Visual hallucinations are not well recognized by clinicians as a presentation of GCA. However, as shown in the present case, visual hallucinations are an important symptom because they are suggestive of cerebral ischemia or visual loss.
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