Giant cell arteritis and systemic sclerosis: a rare overlap syndrome

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease which is characterized by endothelium dysfunction, inflammation and fibrosis. Although scleroderma is often presented as an overlap syndrome with other autoimmune rheumatic diseases, the development of large vessel vasculitis in patients with SSc is considered extremely rare, since only three case reports have thus far been reported in English literature. Herein, we report a 65-year-old woman with a long-standing history of systemic sclerosis who developed giant cell arteritis, eight years after initial diagnosis.