What's Hot in the Treatment of Giant Cell Arteritis

The clinical presentation of giant cell arteritis (GCA) varies greatly and includes numerous clinical subtypes: 1) cranial arteritis with severe ischemic complications, such as visual loss and cerebral ischemia; 2) large vessel arteritis causing subclavian and axillary stenosis, and 3) aortitis leading to aortic dissection, aneurysm, and aortic rupture; 4) a systemic inflammatory syndrome with nonstenosing vasculitis; and "isolated" polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) with myalgias, fatigue, anorexia, and subclinical systemic vasculitis (1-3). Visual loss is the most dreaded complication of GCA and occured in 30-60% of patients with GCA before the era of corticosteroid treatment (1). Despite the widespread use of corticosteroids in the modern era, devastating visual loss still occurs in about 20% of patients with GCA (1-4).