153 Audit of temporal artery biopsy

Temporal artery biopsy for giant cell arteritis: retrospective audit

OBJECTIVES Temporal artery biopsy (TAB) is performed in suspected cases of sight-threatening giant cell arteritis (GCA). We aimed to determine the feasibility of TAB in patients who are suspected of having GCA. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A retrospective audit of all patients undergoing TAB at a single teaching hospital between 2005 and 2011, identified from the histopathology database. ...

Clinical usefulness of temporal artery biopsy.

To assess the diagnostic usefulness of temporal artery biopsy in temporal arteritis (TA) and establish clinical features capable of predicting its positivity we have retrospectively studied the biopsy specimens and the clinical features of 103 patients who had undergone temporal artery biopsy. Temporal artery biopsy reached a positive predictive value of 90.2% with respect to the final diagnosi...

Brow ptosis after temporal artery biopsy.

Facial nerve injury: a complication of superficial temporal artery biopsy.

PURPOSE To describe 4 patients who sustained facial nerve injury during temporal artery biopsy. DESIGN Retrospective, observational case series. METHODS The medical records were reviewed of 4 patients (2 men, 2 women; mean age 72.8 years, range 60 to 87), referred for evaluation of palsy of the frontal branch of the facial nerve following temporal artery biopsy. Main outcomes measured were ...

The impact of temporal artery biopsy on surgical practice

BACKGROUND Giant cell arteritis (GCA) has the potential to cause irreversible blindness and stroke in affected patients [1-4]. Temporal artery biopsy (TAB) remains the gold standard test for GCA [6-8]. Recent literature suggests that TAB does not change management of patients with suspected GCA and that ultrasound scan (USS) may be sufficient enough alone to confirm the diagnosis [9-11,13]. The...