Giant cell arteritis: Diagnostic difficulties

Abstract

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common form of vasculitis present in adults. Its symptoms result from ischemia of the areas supplied by the arteries or the severity of the inflammatory reaction: headache, jaw and limb claudication, visual disturbances, blindness, stroke, polymyalgia, and fever. Because of the variety of symptoms, the disease is often overlooked in diagnostics, possibly leading to permanent ischemic complications. The current classification criteria and the gold standard for diagnostics -temporal artery biopsy -apply to the cranial form of the disease. European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology guidelines have systematized diagnostics, based mainly on simple and reproducible ultrasound examination (ultrasonography). Despite the widespread availability of this imaging method, GCA is still diagnosed too late, and therefore the authors analyzed the possible diagnostic difficulties, based on a group of 21 patients.

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“…The "Rheumatology Forum" was designed as a platform to exchange ideas and knowledge as well as to share personal experiences. Ciba-Stemplewska et al [8] presented at series of case reports of patients with giant cell arteritis, the most common form of vasculitis in patients aged over 50. The Authors discussed in detail the typical characteristics of patients.…”