Giant cell arteritis (temporal arteritis) is a chronic vasculitis that usually affects older people. Although this is a systemic disease, it most often affects the cranial arteries. The most frequent complication of this disorder is visual loss. We report the case of a patient who suffered several rare complications, including tongue necrosis, as a result of being diagnosed with giant cell arte...

N Engl J Med 2003;349:160-9. Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. nflammation of large arteries such as the aorta and its major branches occurs in a number of disorders, including Kawasaki’s syndrome, Behçet’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, syphilis, and tuberculosis. However, aortitis and large-vessel arteritis are characteristics of two entities — giant-cell (temporal) arteritis a...

We report the case of a 65-year-old woman with psoriatic arthritis who developed aortitis secondary to giant cell arteritis. She presented with a 2-mounth history of dry cough, fever and fatigue. There was no evidence of tumor or infectious processes. Abdominal computed tomographic and computed tomography coronary angiographic findings were suggestive of aortitis. Histological study of a tempor...

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...

An elderly woman receiving long term treatment with prednisone and azathioprine for cryptogenic chronic active hepatitis developed granulomatous lipophagic panniculitis and temporal arteritis. The lymphoplasmahistiocytic inflammatory reaction pattern is common to this patient's three diseases. It is suggested that an aberration of the defence mechanisms, immunological or otherwise, is responsib...

The sensation of facial swelling in temporal arteritis may be an important predictor of the development of visual disturbance. A clinical report of two patients who developed a sensation of puffiness of the face without altered facial appearance, as a presenting symptom of temporal arteritis with visual disturbance is presented. This symptom, though documented previously by us, has not been ide...

The use of steroid therapy in polymyalgia rheumatica and temporal arteritis is necessary and usually effective, but may mask coexisting disease. The importance of early consideration of other disorders in such patients is illustrated by three case histories.

Two patients with the aortic arch syndrome and biopsy-proved but asymptomatic temporal giant cell arteritis are described. Corticosteroid treatment was followed by the return of peripheral pulsation in these two patients after an interval of a few months. A review of the literature suggests that of patients where giant cell arteritis causes subclavin obstruction there is an undue predominance o...

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...