The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Exciting Advances in Giant Cell Arteritis Diagnosis & Treatment

Exciting Advances in Giant Cell Arteritis Diagnosis & Treatment

May 17, 2018 • By Jason Liebowitz, MD

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF
James Cavallini / Science Source

James Cavallini / Science Source

Baltimore—Rheumatologists and meteor­ologists share more in common than you might suspect, said Dr. Rebecca Manno, assistant professor of medicine for the Division of Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and assistant director of the Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center. At a March 8 meeting of the Maryland Society for the Rheumatic Diseases, Dr. Manno used the weather as an analogy for understanding updates on classification, diagnosis and treatment of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and topics to watch for in the coming year.

You Might Also Like
  • How to Manage Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis and Polymyalgia Rheumatica
  • New Insights into the Management of Giant Cell Arteritis
  • Trial Data Reveals the Limitations of Steroids in Giant Cell Arteritis Therapy
Explore This Issue
May 2018
Also By This Author
  • How to Find Space for Scholarship in Private Practice

“This is an exciting and unprecedented time for GCA,” Dr. Manno said. “There have been incredible advances in the diagnosis and treatment of this potentially devastating disease, and these are directly affecting the lives of patients in a positive way.”

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Classification & Diagnosis

Just as the categorization and naming of hurricanes is important in correctly identifying these phenomena, said Dr. Manno, so too is vasculitis nomenclature. The Revised International Chapel Hill Consensus Conference of 2012 identified GCA as one of two large-vessel vasculitides (the other being Takayasu’s arteritis), yet Dr. Manno pointed out that a large-vessel vasculitis, such as GCA, can also affect medium and small arteries. The term temporal arteritis, which is often used interchangeably with GCA, can be misleading both because other vasculitides, such as polyarteritis nodosa, can affect the temporal arteries and because exclusive large-vessel involvement may be seen in GCA even when temporal artery involvement is scant or absent.

Classification criteria for GCA are outdated, and diagnostic criteria do not exist. To address this important unmet need, the multinational, observational Diagnostic and Classification Criteria in Vasculitis Study (DCVAS) has developed updated diagnostic and classification criteria for large-vessel vasculitis, using new techniques and incorporating advances in imaging. These provisional criteria and data will be presented at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in October.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Dr. Manno noted that, similar to how meteorological imaging used to characterize weather events has greatly advanced in recent years, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) represent a new frontier in GCA diagnostics. Conventional and CT angiography can assist in the diagnosis of large-vessel GCA, but MRI/ magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a non-invasive procedure that does not expose patients to radiation and can identify manifestations, such as aortitis or subclavian stenosis, that may have important implications for the patient. MRI/MRA may be of particular utility when the clinical history is consistent with GCA but the temporal artery biopsy is negative, although Dr. Manno cautioned that artifacts in MRA with contrast, such as subclavian pseudostenosis (which is a mimic of stenosis due to focal irregularity of the subclavian artery from residual contrast remaining in the adjacent vein), can confound the picture. PET/CT is another technique that can identify large-vessel vasculitis by demonstrating FDG avidity in blood vessels, thereby potentially indicating active disease.

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Filed Under: Vasculitis Tagged With: Giant Cell Arteritis, tocilizumabIssue: May 2018

You Might Also Like:
  • How to Manage Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis and Polymyalgia Rheumatica
  • New Insights into the Management of Giant Cell Arteritis
  • Trial Data Reveals the Limitations of Steroids in Giant Cell Arteritis Therapy
  • Giant Cell Arteritis

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2022 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)