Clinical Manifestations of Giant Cell Arteritis

Giant cell arteritis (GCA), also known as temporal arteritis or Horton disease, is categorized as a large- and medium-sized vessels vasculitis. Systemic symptoms are common in GCA and although vascular involvement may be widespread, the cranial branches of the aortic arch are responsible for the hallmark symptoms of GCA: headache, jaw claudication and ocular symptoms, particularly visual loss. The large vessel (LV)-GCA phenotype may differ or overlap from cranial arteritis. Clinical consequences of LV-GCA comprise aneurysms and dissections of the aorta, as well as stenosis, occlusion and ectasia of large arteries. Symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica occurring in a patient with GCA include characteristic proximal polyarthralgias and myalgias, sometimes accompanied by remitting seronegative symmetrical synovitis with pitting edema (RS3PE), Less common manifestations reported include central nervous system involvement, audiovestibular and upper respiratory symptoms, pericarditis, mesenteric ischemia and female genital tract involvement.