Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common vasculitis of the elderly. The diagnosis can be challenging at times because of the limitation of the American Rheumatology Association (ARA) classification criteria and the significant proportion of biopsy-negative patients with GCA. We discuss the role of advanced imaging techniques, including positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, in establ...

Objective. To search for a relationship between serum anti-b2 glycoprotein I (anti-b2GPI) antibodies and the occurrence of ischaemic complications in giant cell arteritis (GCA), since the latter do not correlate with anti-cardiolipin antibodies (ACL), which are frequently observed in GCA. Methods. IgG and IgM anti-b2GPI antibodies and ACL were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in s...

OBJECTIVE Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a vasculitis predominantly affecting medium- and large-sized arteries. Recent data show the co-localization of dendritic cells and Chlamydia pneumoniae in vascular biopsies from GCA patients. Here we define the topographical relation of dendritic cells and these activated T-cells to determine the antigen presenting cell in GCA, and to examine several auxi...

Although a temporal artery biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA), there is considerable evidence that characteristic signs demonstrated by colour duplex sonography (CDS) of the temporal arteries may be of diagnostic importance. We aimed to test the hypothesis that CDS can replace biopsy in the algorithm for the approach to diagnose GCA. Bilateral CDS was pe...

Background Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) are almost always treated with glucocorticoids (GCs), but long-term GC use is associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). The absolute incidence of this complication in this patient group remains unclear. Objective To quantify the absolute risk of GC-induced DM in PMR and GCA from published literature. Methods We identified ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the period prevalences of ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV), including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), eosinophilic GPA (EGPA)/Churg-Strauss and GCA, in an urban and rural population in northern Germany in 2006 and to compare the data with our previous study performed in 1994. METHODS We identified of...

OBJECTIVE To investigate potential associations of the PlA1/A2 polymorphism of the platelet glycoprotein IIIa (GPIIIa) gene with susceptibility to, and clinical expression of, giant cell arteritis (GCA). METHODS One hundred forty patients with biopsy-proven GCA who were residents of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and 241 population-based healthy controls from the same geographic area were genotyped fo...

OBJECTIVES To assess the performance of circulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels as a tool for diagnosing giant cell arteritis (GCA) in a cohort of patients referred for assessment of suspected GCA. METHODS We selected 298 patients recruited to the multicentre study Temporal Artery Biopsy versus Ultrasound in diagnosis of suspected GCA (TABUL). In a random subset of 26 bio...

The Fc gamma receptors have been shown to play important roles in the initiation and regulation of many immunological and inflammatory processes and to amplify and refine the immune response to an infection. We have investigated the hypothesis that polymorphism within the FCGR genetic locus is associated with giant cell arteritis (GCA). Biallelic polymorphisms in FCGR2A, FCGR3A, FCGR3B and FCGR...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the phenotype and T cell receptor (TCR) use in peripheral blood T cells in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA). METHODS Circulating T lymphocyte phenotype and TCR repertoire were studied by flow cytometry using specific monoclonal antibodies in 23 healthy controls and 37 patients with PMR/GCA. RESULTS Patients with active PMR/G...