OBJECTIVE To describe demographic features, disease manifestations and therapy in patients with giant cell arteritis from referral centers in Brazil. METHODS A retrospective cohort study was performed on 45 giant cell arteritis patients from three university hospitals in Brazil. Diagnoses were based on the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for giant cell arteritis or te...

RATIONALE The initial symptoms and signs of Takayasu arteritis vary due to the heterogeneity of affected vessels. Moreover, the vascular lesions are difficult to detect at initial presentation, making diagnosis even more challenging. Although cases of aortic dissection with arteritis history have been reported, Takayasu arteritis in men with aortic dissection as initial presentation is very rar...

arteritis with aneurysm formation of the left common iliac. Extrinsic compression of the left ureter resulted in ureteral obstruction and Salmonella bacteremia secondary to pyelonephritis. An excision was performed, followed by an extra-anatomic bypass with an autologous superficial femoral vein. Salmonella septicemia after acute pyelonephritis in a patient aged over 50 years should raise the s...

BACKGROUND Despite corticosteroid treatment, patients with temporal arteritis may continue to lose vision. However, predictors of progressive visual loss are not known. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 341 consecutive patients with suspected temporal arteritis who underwent temporal artery biopsy. 90 patients with biopsy proven temporal arteritis were included in our study. RESULTS Twent...

We read with great interest the original article “Rapid induction of remission in large vessel vasculitis by IL-6 blockade” by Dr. Seitz et al. [1]. One of us (F.J.F-F) is very interested in the treatment of giant-cell arteritis because his mother was diagnosed with giant-cell arteritis 5 months previously. She had polymyalgia rheumatic for several months, and headache was the main manifestatio...

Arteritis is defined as inflammation of the arterial wall and may result in arterial occlusion, aneurysm formation, or haemorrhage. The nomenclature and classification of arteritis is complex and confused. From a surgical perspective, however, the most useful classification is based on the size of the involved artery (box 1). The commonest large artery arteritides encountered in Western surgica...

Takayasu Arteritis is a vasculitis that affects the aorta, and its large branches, including renal, coronary and pulmonary arteries. This is a case report of a newborn who had early onset sepsis, vascular imaging reported aneurysms in the thoracic and abdominal aorta, with decreased distal pulses, a blood pressure difference >10 mmHg and angiographic changes, integrating the diagnose of Takayas...

Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is rare in scleroderma unless there are concomitant abnormalities in renal or lung function or malignant hypertension. A 43-year-old woman with typical scleroderma developed subacute encephalopathy despite absence of the above abnormalities. Cerebral angiography demonstrated a focal arteritis. The patient improved while being given corticosteroids. We be...

Temporal arteritis is a common cause of blindness. Prompt steroid treatment limits unilateral visual loss while protecting the contralateral eye. Established blindness is irreversible. We report a case of temporal arteritis in which an eye with no light perception secondary to an arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy regained 6/6 vision.

A retrospective study was made of 96 patients diagnosed as cranial arteritis of whom 32 were accepted using strict clinical criteria or a positive temporal artery biopsy. Unusual presentations of fever, psychiatric illness, headache-free patients and a 'normal' ESR are described. The recognition of these variations is important in the early diagnosis of temporal arteritis.