The heart in temporal arteritis / giant cell arteritis
Assistant Editor-in-Chief: Brian Blank
Please Take Over This Page and Apply to be Editor-In-Chief for this topic: There can be one or more than one Editor-In-Chief. You may also apply to be an Associate Editor-In-Chief of one of the subtopics below. Please mail us [1] to indicate your interest in serving either as an Editor-In-Chief of the entire topic or as an Associate Editor-In-Chief for a subtopic. Please be sure to attach your CV and or biographical sketch.
Overview
Cardiac involvement with Giant-cell arteritis or temporal arteritis is rare. Patients with either condition may experience chest pain if they have aortic root involvement or myocardial infarction.
Granulomatous giant-cell arteritis could be present with [temporal arteritis] in 10-15% of patients, or it could manifest on its own. The use of tissue analysis to find granulomatous giant cell coronary arteritis is rare, as are proven cases leading to fatal [myocardial infarction].[1]
Giant cells can be found along the degenerative internal elastic membrane of the arterial wall. The intima thickens to the point it becomes a fibrous cord. Harrison may have also noticed luminal thrombosis in 16 cases of [temporal arteritis], though only one involved the epicardial coronary arteries. Giant-cell arteritis of intramural coronary arteries is also possible. [1]
Giant cell arteritis can lead to vascular inflmmation of the proximal aorta, extracranial head structures, and upper extremities.
Extracranial vascular involvement is clinically detectable in 10-15% of patients with giant cell arteritis. It often presents dramatically as an unsuspected cause ofaortic dissection or ruptured aortic aneurysm in the elderly [2]
CT scans and MRI with T2-weighted images are enough for diagnosis.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Poole-Wilson, Philip A.; Fuster, Valentin; O'Rourke, Robert A.; Walsh, Richard (2008). Hurst's the heart. McGraw-Hill Medical. ISBN 00714788689780071478861 Check
|isbn=value: length (help). - ↑ Liang B A, Qureshi J, Wilke W S. Giant Cell Arteritis: Diagnosis and Management. Hospital Physician February 2003, 48-58