Vaskulárna medicína 2/2015

Giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic vasculitis, affecting large and medium size vessels, especially the aorta and its major branches, with the predilection for the branches of the carotid and vertebral arteries. Often involves the temporal artery. The onset of the disease is in elderly persons (older than 50 years, often at the age of 70 – 80 years). GCA is often associated with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). In this article the etiology, pathogenesis, histologic and clinical manifestation, diagnostic methods as well as therapeutic principles for GCA and PMR are described. Due to the fact that GCA is a rare disease with very broad clinical spectrum of symptoms and signs, with no specific laboratory test, to establish the proper diagnosis a multidisciplinary approach is essential.

Keywords: giant cell arteritis, polymyalgia rheumatic, diagnostic criteria, therapeutic principles.