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Open Access Rheumatol 2021 1;13:153-165. Epub 2021 Jun 1.

Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

The large vessel vasculitides comprise giant cell arteritis (GCA), Takayasu arteritis (TAK), and chronic periaortitis. The diagnostic approach to these conditions involves the correct use and interpretation of clinical criteria, imaging techniques, and, in case of GCA, temporal artery biopsy. Ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) reveal a homogeneous, concentric, thickening of the arterial wall. Read More

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2021 Jun 9:271678X211020860. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Laboratory of Neurobiology, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russian Federation.

Remyelination is a key process enabling post-stroke brain tissue recovery and plasticity. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of demyelination and remyelination monitoring in experimental stroke from the acute to chronic stage using an emerging myelin imaging biomarker, macromolecular proton fraction (MPF). After stroke induction by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, rats underwent repeated MRI examinations during 85 days after surgery with histological endpoints for the animal subgroups on the 7th, 21st, 56th, and 85th days. Read More

Arthritis Rheumatol 2021 Jun 8. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Objective: Macrophages mediate inflammation, angiogenesis and tissue destruction in giant cell arteritis (GCA). Serum levels of the macrophage-associated protein YKL-40 (chitinase-3 like-1), previously linked to angiogenesis and tissue remodeling, remain elevated in GCA despite glucocorticoid treatment. Here, we aimed to investigate the contribution of YKL-40 to vasculopathy in GCA. Read More

J Int Adv Otol 2021 May;17(3):269-274

Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Primary intraosseous cavernous hemangiomas (PICHs) in the temporal bone are very rare. Most treated cases are in adult patients, and there are very few reports involving children. To our knowledge, no cases reported have ever actually adopted embolization in children, although several reports recommend preoperative embolization of the feeding arteries. Read More

Diagnostics (Basel) 2021 May 14;11(5). Epub 2021 May 14.

Department of Ophthalmology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common form of large vessel vasculitis. GCA is a medical and ophthalmological emergency, and rapid diagnosis and treatment with high-dose corticosteroids is critical in order to reduce the risk of stroke and sudden irreversible loss of vision. GCA can be difficult to diagnose due to insidious and unspecific symptoms-especially if typical superficial extracranial arteries are not affected. Read More

Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis 2021 18;13:1759720X211009029. Epub 2021 May 18.

Department of Internal Medicine, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France.

Background: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common systemic vasculitis. Relapses are frequent. The aim of this study was to identify relapse risk factors in patients with GCA with complete large-vessel imaging at diagnosis. Read More

NMC Case Rep J 2021 Apr 2;8(1):7-12. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of Neurosurgery, Yokohama Sakae Kyosai Hospital, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.

We report a rare case of an aneurysm originating from the penetrating artery of the distal middle cerebral artery (MCA). A 76-year-old man without a notable past history presented with sudden-onset severe headache, left hemiparesis, and a decreased level of consciousness. Computed tomography (CT) revealed subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the right temporal lobe extending into the ventricle. Read More

Brain Nerve 2021 May;73(5):496-502

Department of Neurology, Nippon Medical School.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA), also referred to as temporal arteritis, is a variant of large-vessel vasculitis. GCA should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients aged >50 years, who present with headache, abrupt onset of visual disturbances, unexplained fever, a high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and high serum C-reactive protein levels. Diagnosis of GCA is based on accurate interpretation of laboratory data, temporal artery biopsy findings, and imaging study results. Read More

J Autoimmun 2021 Jul 14;121:102652. Epub 2021 May 14.

Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Dijon University Hospital, Dijon, France; Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, INSERM, EFS BFC, UMR1098, RIGHT Interactions Greffon-Hôte-Tumeur/Ingénierie Cellulaire et Génique, F-21000, Dijon, France. Electronic address:

This study aimed to assess the implication of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in GCA. Blood samples were obtained from 34 GCA patients (before and after 3 months of treatment with glucocorticoids (GC) alone) and compared with 20 controls aged >50 years. MAIT cells, defined by a CD3CD4TCRγδTCRVα7. Read More

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021 May 17. Epub 2021 May 17.

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Case Rep Cardiol 2021 27;2021:9985568. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Via C. Valeria, 98125 Messina, Italy.

We report a case of branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO) that occurred after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A 59-year-old man with no other previous diseases presented visual acuity deterioration in the left eye 24 hours after PCI. Fundus examination revealed ischemia at the temporal branch of the retinal artery associated with inner layer edema. Read More

Br J Nurs 2021 May;30(9):512-519

Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an uncommon autoimmune inflammatory vasculopathy that can lead to the destruction and occlusion of various arteries that consequently can cause serious complications such as stroke or sight loss. It is seen as a medical emergency. The most commonly affected vessel in GCA is the temporal artery in the side of the head, hence the condition is sometimes also referred to as 'temporal arteritis'. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 May 12;14(5). Epub 2021 May 12.

Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padova, Veneto, Italy.

Orbital metastases represent a rare condition and only 33 cases of metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), usually revealed by slowly progressive exophthalmos, have been described in the literature. A 62-year-old man affected by HCC reported a sudden left exophthalmos and amaurosis. A cranial CT scan revealed pathological tissue occupying the superior portion of the orbit. Read More

Front Neurol 2021 22;12:621555. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Department of Neurology, Mental and Neurological Disease Research Center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

The inflammasome represents a highly pro-inflammatory mechanism. It has been identified that inflammasome was activated after ischemic stroke. However, the impact of inflammasomes on stroke outcomes remains contradictory. Read More

Biomed Res Int 2021 9;2021:6627925. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116031, China.

To explore the application value of color duplex sonography and enhanced computerized tomography (CT) inspection based on a nanocontrast agent in diagnosis and pathogenesis in giant cell arteritis (GCA), the GCA nude mouse model was constructed. In this study, 40 healthy male BalB/c nude mice aged 6-8 weeks were randomly divided into a control group (no model) and an experimental group (model), with 20 mice in each group, and the temporal artery tissue of GCA patients diagnosed as positive by temporal artery biopsy was implanted into nude mice to construct a GCA nude mouse model. Abdominal aortic biopsy and immunohistochemistry were used to verify the success of the GCA nude mouse model. Read More

Children (Basel) 2021 Apr 8;8(4). Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-752 Katowice, Poland.

Arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in children is a rare condition; its frequency is estimated at 0.58 to 7.9 new onsets in 100,000 children per year. Read More

Eur J Ophthalmol 2021 Apr 23:11206721211009447. Epub 2021 Apr 23.

Department of Ophthalmology, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.

Ischaemic optic neuropathy (ION) is a major cause of blindness. The clinical approach and management is a matter of debate for the treating neurologist and the ophthalmologist. Of the two broad varieties namely the posterior (PION) and anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AION), the arteritic variety of the AION (AAION) is usually due to giant cell arteritis. Read More

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2021 Apr 14:271678X211008744. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

Intracranial arterial stiffening is a potential early marker of emerging cerebrovascular dysfunction and could be mechanistically involved in disease processes detrimental to brain function via several pathways. A prominent consequence of arterial wall stiffening is the increased velocity at which the systolic pressure pulse wave propagates through the vasculature. Previous non-invasive measurements of the pulse wave propagation have been performed on the aorta or extracranial arteries with results linking increased pulse wave velocity to brain pathology. Read More

Rev Med Chil 2020 Nov;148(11):1619-1629

Departamento de Radiología, Clínica Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a primary granulomatous systemic vasculitis involving the aorta and its main branches that affects people aged over 50 years with a genetic predisposition. Its main phenotypes are cranial and extracranial involvement, with or without symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica. These phenotypes can overlap. Read More

Rev Med Chil 2020 Oct;148(10):1513-1517

Departamento de Cirugía Vascular y Endovascular, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

Giant cell arteritis is more common in women older than 60 years, is associated with systemic inflammation symptoms and mainly involves the aortic arch and cranial arteries, specially the temporal artery. Symptomatic lower extremity arterial stenosis or occlusion is uncommon and can lead to limb loss. We report a 73-year-old woman presenting with a one-month history of lower extremity intermittent claudication of sudden onset. Read More

ACR Open Rheumatol 2021 Apr 2. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City.

This systematic review compares treatment options for patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) and evaluates the test accuracy of studies used in diagnosing and monitoring GCA. These studies were used to inform evidence-based recommendations for the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Vasculitis Foundation (VF) vasculitis management guidelines. A systematic review and search of articles in English in Ovid Medline, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was conducted. Read More

Ann Diagn Pathol 2021 Jun 1;52:151728. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

Department of Internal Medicine, Dupuytren Hospital, Limoges, France; EA3842-CaPTuR, Contrôle de l'Activation Cellulaire, Progression Tumorale et Résistance thérapeutique, Faculty of Medicine, Limoges, France.

Background: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic vasculitis of large and medium vessels characterized by an inflammatory arterial infiltrate. GCA begins in the adventitia and leads to vascular remodeling by promoting proliferation of myofibroblasts in the intima. The morphology of the fibroblasts in the adventitia in GCA is unclear. Read More

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021 Apr 1. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Dijon University Hospital, Dijon, France.

Objectives: An increased risk of hematological malignancies (HM) has been reported in giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients. Our study aimed to investigate the incidence and the type of HM occurring in GCA.

Methods: All patients with GCA and HM living in Côte D'Or (France) were identified by crossing data from the RHEMCO (Registre des Hémopathies Malignes de Côte d'Or) and those having a positive temporal artery biopsy between 1st January 2001 and 31 December 2018. Read More

Front Pediatr 2021 11;9:607684. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Section of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Placental abnormalities are associated with inflammation and have been linked to brain injury in preterm infants. We studied the relationship between placental pathology and the temporal profiles of cytokine levels in extremely pre-term infants. We prospectively enrolled 55 extremely preterm infants born between June 2017 and July 2018. Read More

Eur J Case Rep Intern Med 2021 9;8(3):002254. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

Department of Internal Medicine, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano, Switzerland.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA), or Horton's arteritis, presenting solely as fever is very rare. Usually, it manifests with typical features such as visual problems, headache and jaw claudication, or it can be associated with polymyalgia rheumatica. We describe the case of a patient with GCA who presented only with prolonged fever, the cause of which was not determined by diagnostic tests. Read More

Ear Nose Throat J 2021 Mar 23:1455613211002954. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Japan.

A 74-year-old Japanese woman with a 1-year history of right preauricular pain and a 2-month history of bleeding from the right ear was admitted to our department. Tumor was observed in the anterior wall in the right external auditory canal. Bony swelling of the right preauricular area was palpated. Read More

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021 Mar 18. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Rheumatology, Lund University, Sweden.

Objective: To characterize the epidemiology of temporal artery biopsy-positive (TAB+) giant cell arteritis (GCA), including trends in incidence, seasonal variation, and prevalence in Skåne, the southernmost region of Sweden.

Methods: All histopathology reports of TABs from 1997 through 2019 were reviewed to identify patients diagnosed with TAB+ GCA. Incidence rates based on the 23-year period and the point-prevalence at 31 December, 2014 were determined. Read More

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2020 Oct 14. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Department of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern.

Sci Rep 2021 Mar 18;11(1):6220. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Identifying comorbidities in polymyalgia rheumatica/giant cell arteritis (PMR/GCA) is crucial for patients' outcomes. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of the inflammatory process and glucocorticoid treatment on aortic arterial stiffness and body composition in PMR/GCA. 77 patients with newly diagnosed PMR/GCA were treated with oral glucocorticoids and followed for 40 weeks. Read More

Rev Med Interne 2021 Mar 13. Epub 2021 Mar 13.

Service de médecine interne, Centre de référence maladies auto-immunes et systémiques rares d'Ile de France, Hôpital Cochin, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), 27, rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, Paris, France; Université de Paris, 75006 Paris, France. Electronic address:

Introduction: Headache, visual disturbances and shoulder and hip girdle pain are frequent symptoms of consultation and the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA) can be evoked in these situations. However, GCA is a rare disease, and the management modalities of a clinical suspicion of GCA are poorly described, which warranted this study.

Methods: This is a survey evaluating the management of a suspected case of GCA. Read More