Optimal temporal artery biopsy length for diagnosis of giant cell arteritis.

Abstract

Giant cell arteritis is a major type of large vessel vasculitis.1 Abrupt-onset headache with or without scalp tenderness, temporal artery abnormalities, and claudication (in the jaw, tongue, and limbs) might be clinically prominent, accompanied by constitutional symptoms and, in about half of patients, polymyalgia rheumatica.2 Patients with giant cell arteritis show no specific laboratory features, but most have elevated acute phase reactants at disease onset. The 2018 update of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of large vessel vasculitis advise a confirmatory test in all patients with suspected giant cell arteritis, either by imaging (ie, ultrasound, MRI, CT, or PET-CT) or histology (ie, temporal artery biopsy).