Aortic involvement in giant cell arteritis. A prospective follow-up of 11 patients using computed tomography

Objective: To determine clinical and radiological features, using computed tomography (CT-scan) in patients with aortic involvement related to giant cell arteritis (GCA), and to assess both clinical and CT-scan outcome after therapy institution.

Methods: Aortic involvement due to GCA was investigated in all patients, using CT-scan at diagnosis, and at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up after therapy institution.

Results: The 11 consecutive patients consisted of 4 men and 7 women with mean age of 64.5 years. Patients exhibited: constitutional symptoms (N=9; 82%), dorsalgia (N=3; 27%), clinical signs of GCA (N=3; 27%) and of upper limb large vessel impairment (N=6; 55%). CT-scan showed aortitis involving both thoracic and abdominal aorta (N=6; 55%), abdominal (N=2; 18%) or thoracic aorta (N=2; 18%) and thoracic aortic aneurysm (N=1; 9%). At one-year follow-up, CT-scan revealed: complete resolution (N=7; 64%) and improvement (N=3; 27%) of aortic damage; the patient, who had thoracic aortic aneurysm, underwent surgical treatment, as aortic lesion remained unchanged on CT-scan.

Conclusions: Our study underlines that CT-scan is a helpful test in diagnosis and follow-up of aortic involvement in patients with GCA.