2 cases of Horton's giant cell arteritis
Cordioli, E.; Amurri, B.; Barbieri, M.; Ghirardi, R.; Morra, G.; Martinelli, M.
Giornale di Clinica Medica 68(4): 219-224
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0017-0275 PMID: 3609604 Document Number: 296709
In this work we report two unusual cases of giant cell arteritis, a systemic arterial disease, which frequently involves temporal arteries. In the first patient, isolated temporal arteritis developed several months after the casual finding of aspecific laboratory changes. In the second patient, the disease presented with respiratory symptoms, which preceded temporal arteritis by 10 months. Furthermore, the course of the disease was complicated by a rare peripheral neuropathy compatible with brachial plexitis. In our patients, as frequently reported, the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis, based on typical microscopic findings of temporal artery biopsy specimens, was delayed by the unusual onset and course of the disease. Both patients responded dramatically to corticosteroids.