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Giant Cell Arteritis, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, and Ocular Involvement

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Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis

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Abstract

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic granulomatous vasculitis of unknown etiology that typically involves the branches of the carotid artery (the temporal artery, in particular). However, it may affect any medium- or large-sized artery which makes establishment of its diagnosis even more difficult [1]. As early as in the tenth century, the famous Arabian physician Ali ibn Isa recommended removal of the temporal artery in order to treat migraine in patients with a simultaneous chronic eye disease often terminating in loss of sight [2]. From the clinical point of view, temporal arteritis was for the first time described by Hutchinson in 1890; the histopathological features related to the clinical syndrome were outlined by Horton in 1932, but it was as late as in 1938 that Jennings recognized that blindness might be a severe complication of the disease [3]. Later Gilmour, a pathologist, found out that temporal arteritis could involve also other arteries, and he was the first to use the term “giant cell arteritis.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, Piešťany, Slovakia

    Jozef Rovenský M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P.

  2. Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Slovak Medical University, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Jozef Rovenský M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P.

  3. Jacobs Retina Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Igor Kozák

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  1. Jozef Rovenský M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P.
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Correspondence to Jozef Rovenský M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, Piešťany, Slovakia

    Jozef Rovenský

  2. 2nd Department of Medicine, State Hospital of Stockerau, Stockerau, Austria

    Burkhard Leeb

  3. 2nd Internal Clinic Medical Faculty, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Viera Štvrtinová

  4. Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Richard Imrich

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Rovenský, J., Kozák, I. (2017). Giant Cell Arteritis, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, and Ocular Involvement. In: Rovenský, J., Leeb, B., Štvrtinová, V., Imrich, R. (eds) Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52222-7_16

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