“Cervical duplex ultrasound for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis with vertebral artery involvement” by O. Kargiotis, G. Tsivgoulis, et al.: https://lnkd.in/gp47nks
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic inflammatory arteriopathy of medium and large-sized arteries. It is the most common systemic vasculitis, and ischemic stroke is a well-recognized complication. “The authors found that elevated inflammatory markers, older age, anemia, and the presence of multiple stenoses or occlusions in the vertebrobasilar territory, detected in 70% of stroke patients with GCA” might be red flags for GCA in the differential diagnosis of posterior ischemic stroke etiology.
They demonstrate with 3 case studies a proposal to overhaul GCA diagnostic protocols: “Cervical duplex sonography (CDS) of the temporal arteries is a powerful diagnostic tool with high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of GCA. In cases with clinical suspicion or a temporal artery ultrasonographic confirmation of GCA, a detailed evaluation of the cervical, axillary, and intracranial arteries with CDS and transcranial-duplex-sonography, respectively, should be part of the ultrasound examination protocol.” What say the rheumatologists?