Death due to giant cell arteritis (GCA) is rare, and is usually caused by coronary or vertebral arteritis in the acute phase of the disease. A case of fatal GCA is reported in a woman with a normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate, who had been treated for temporal arteritis for eight months. Post mortem examination showed a dissection and thrombosis of the intracranial portion of the left verteb...

A patient with giant cell arteritis and ischaemic optic neuropathy developed bilateral tonic pupils. This pupillary abnormality may result from ischaemia of the ciliary ganglia. Despite the propensity for patients with giant cell arteritis to develop vascular occlusions in the eye and orbit, tonic pupils have rarely been described, and several reasons for this are proposed. The arteries supplyi...

Takayasu's arteritis is a rare form of nonspecific obliterative panarteritis of unknown aetiology. Anaesthesia for patients with Takayasu's arteritis is complicated by severe uncontrolled hypertension leading to end-organ dysfunction, stenosis of major blood vessels affecting regional circulation, and difficulties in the monitoring of arterial blood pressure. The anaesthetic approach for partur...

BACKGROUND Takayasu arteritis is a rare, chronic, granulomatous systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology and a few cases have been reported in pregnancy. In pregnancies concomitant with Takayasu arteritis or after diagnosis, Takayasu arteritis negatively affects pregnancy by increasing 13-fold the odds of complications such as hypertensive disorders. The best recommendations in this scenario are...

LINGUAL INFARCTION is an atypical manifestation of temporal arteritis, with fewer than 30 cases reported since 1966.1 Temporal arteritis causes inflammation of mediumto large-sized arteries, particularly branches of the carotid artery. It occurs predominantly in white women over 55 years old and is associated with polymyalgia rheumatica. The two conditions are considered to be part of the spect...

Two patients presented with the nephrotic syndrome complicating non-specific aorto-arteritis (Takayasu's arteritis). Histologically both had renal amyloidosis. On investigation there was no evidence of chronic infection or any immuno-inflammatory disease known to be associated with amyloidosis. These cases raise the possibility of a significant association between aorto-arteritis of the Takayas...

OBJECTIVE To determine fluctuation in circulating von Willebrand factor (vWF) in the outcome of patients with temporal arteritis. METHODS Plasma vWF antigen concentrations were measured in 65 patients with biopsy proven temporal arteritis at different disease activity stages, in 12 with isolated polymyalgia rheumatica, and in 16 controls. Fourteen temporal arteritis patients underwent serial ...

Background: Takayasu arteritis is a granulomatous vasculitis which mainly involves the large arterial vessels. The disease is rare and it is more common in females aged between 15-30 years old. In this paper, we report a case of takayasu arteritis in Babol, north of Iran. Case Presentation: A 22 - year old female was admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases of Rouhani Teaching Hospital...

CASE REPORT Two patients (80 and 67 year-old) presented with diplopia for a sudden right 3rd cranial nerve palsy without other ocular or systemic symptoms related to temporal arteritis. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein levels were normal. Subsequent biopsy of the superficial temporal artery confirmed the diagnosis of temporal arteritis. DISCUSSION Patients with ocular ner...

BACKGROUND Giant cell arteritis typically involves the temporal arteries, but can involve other cranial arteries. Temporal artery biopsy is the mainstay for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis; however, biopsy may be problematic if giant cell arteritis involves other cranial arteries that are inaccessible for sampling. In these situations, magnetic resonance angiography is a useful, non-invas...