scholarly journals Color doppler ultrasound and the giant cell arteritis probability score for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis: a Canadian single center experience

Author(s):  
Farah Zarka ◽  
Maxime Rhéaume ◽  
Meriem Belhocine ◽  
Michelle Goulet ◽  
Guillaume Febrer ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives To compare accuracy of colour doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) and temporal artery biopsy (TAB) to establish the final diagnosis of GCA and to determine how the giant cell arteritis probability score (GCAPS) performs as a risk stratification tool. Methods Descriptive statistics were performed on a retrospective cohort of patients referred to our vasculitis referral center between July 1st, 2017 and October 1st, 2020 for suspected GCA. CDUS, TAB, center-specific TAB (vasculitis center vs.s referring hospitals) and GCAPS were compared against the final diagnosis of GCA as determined by a GCA expert; CDUS was also compared with TAB results. Results Data from 198 patients were included: 60 patients with GCA and 138 patients without GCA. Sixty-two patients had a TAB. Using the final diagnosis by a GCA expert as a reference, sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were 93.3%, 98.5%, 96.6%, 97.1% for CDUS; and 69.2%, 100%, 100%, 81.8% for TAB. The false negative rate was 6.7% for CDUS and 30.8% for TAB. False negative TAB mostly occurred when performed in referring hospitals (57.1%) as opposed to our vasculitis center (21.1%). With a cut-off at 9.5 points, Se for GCAPS was 98.3% while Sp was 74.3%. Conclusion CDUS of the temporal and axillary arteries showed a high sensitivity and specificity and helped to diagnose GCA in patients with negative TAB. We validated that GCAPS is a useful clinical tool with a score < 9.5 making the diagnosis of GCA improbable.

EMJ Radiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Harkins ◽  
Richard Conway

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common systemic vasculitis. In the past two decades there have been significant advancements in our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the disease, and consequently the management of GCA is evolving. GCA is a medical emergency because when left untreated it can lead to devastating complications including irreversible visual loss. Thus, prompt diagnosis is imperative to ensure appropriate treatment and prevent ischaemic events. However, uncertainty remains over diagnostic pathways, including appropriate modalities and standardisation of findings. Temporal artery biopsy has been considered the gold standard diagnostic test but has significant limitations in terms of false negative results. In recent times, several new diagnostic modalities have been proposed in GCA including temporal artery ultrasound, CT angiography, magnetic resonance angiography, and PET. In this paper, the authors review the advantages and limitations of current diagnostic modalities in GCA.


Author(s):  
Bonifacio Álvarez-Lario ◽  
José Andrés Lorenzo-Martín ◽  
María Colazo-Burlato ◽  
Jesús Luis Macarrón-Vicente ◽  
José Luis Alonso-Valdivielso

ABSTRACT The case is reported of a 75-year-old woman diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), treated with low doses of prednisone, and with clinical and analytical remission. Two years later, she presented with a clinical picture of giant cell arteritis (GCA), including headache, diplopia, jaw pain, feeling of swelling in both temples, and elevation of acute phase reactants. Symptoms spontaneously subsided two weeks later, while analytical parameters improved without any treatment. A high-resolution color Doppler ultrasound showed thickening of the intima-media complex with “halo” sign in the right temporal artery. A biopsy of the right temporal artery was performed, although it was not successful, as no artery could be found, and the procedure became more complicated with an eyebrow ptosis due to a lesion of the frontal branch of the facial nerve. GCA diagnosis was based on the clinical, laboratory and ultrasound findings. The patient was treated with prednisone and methotrexate, without clinical or analytical relapse. Comments are presented on the described cases of GCA with spontaneous remission and the most appropriate treatment in these cases are discussed. Other peculiarities of the case are also mentioned, such as the progression to GCA more than two years after the onset of PMR, and the complications from the temporal artery biopsy.


Rheumatology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sameena Khalid ◽  
James Maxwell

Abstract Background Giant cell arteritis (GCA) usually affects the temporal arteries but can result in systemic vasculitis that can be seen on Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT). Currently PET-CT is not used first line to diagnose cranial-GCA and temporal artery biopsy (TAB) remains the most common investigation to assess for this. There have been few studies performed to assess the use of PET-CT as an initial diagnostic tool in cranial-GCA. One study performed PET-CT for suspected GCA in their cohort of 64 patients. They found, when compared with TAB, global GCA assessment by PET-CT had a sensitivity of 92%, specificity of 85%, positive predictive value of 61% and negative predictive value of 98%. They concluded PET-CT had good diagnostic accuracy when compared with TAB and can be used as a first-line test to assess for GCA and rule out lower-risk GCA. Another study used PET-CT in steroid-naïve patients and also showed a high accuracy (sensitivity 64% and specificity of 100%) in diagnosing cranial artery inflammation. Methods We present two cases where the patient had symptoms of headache, constitutional symptoms and raised inflammatory markers, however PET-CT did not suggest GCA. The patients were subsequently re-referred later with ongoing symptoms and TAB confirmed GCA. Results Case 1: A 71-year-old woman presented with a one-month history of intermittent right sided headache and rigors. Her inflammatory markers were elevated (CRP of 115mg/L and ESR of 57mm/hr). Suspecting GCA, prednisolone 30mg od was commenced. Upon rheumatology review, it was felt her symptoms were atypical for GCA. Prednisolone was discontinued, and a PET-CT scan was arranged. This was performed ten days later and did not show any features of vasculitis. Six weeks later, the patient presented to ophthalmology reporting visual aura, ongoing headache with elevated inflammatory markers. Prednisolone 60mg od was commenced and a TAB was arranged. This was reported as partially treated GCA. Case 2: A 73-year-old gentleman had a prolonged admission for pyrexia of unknown origin. Headache was present throughout admission and rheumatology opinion was sought. A PET-CT did not show vasculitis. The patient was discharged when pyrexia improved however his inflammatory markers remained consistently high (CRP of 82mg/L and ESR 106mm/hr). One-month post-discharge, the patients GP contacted rheumatology concerned about ongoing headache and scalp tenderness. Prednisolone 40mg od was commenced and a TAB was arranged which reported features consistent with GCA. Both patients responded well to steroids. Conclusion As demonstrated, patients with biopsy proven GCA do not always exhibit vasculitis on imaging. A negative PET-CT did not reliably exclude GCA in our patients suggesting its use as a diagnostic investigation for GCA needs to be approached with caution. A TAB should also be performed when there is ongoing suspicion of GCA. Disclosures S. Khalid None. J. Maxwell Honoraria; BMS, Pfizer, Lilly, Abbvie. Other; Talks, BMS, Pfizer, Lilly, Abbvie.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 95.3-95
Author(s):  
A. Sachdev ◽  
S. Dubey ◽  
C. Tiivas ◽  
M. George ◽  
P. Mehta

Background:A number of centres are now running fast track pathways for diagnosis and management of Giant cell arteritis with ultrasound as the first port of call for diagnosis1. Temporal artery biopsies (TABs) have become the second line of investigation, and it is unclear how useful TAB is in this setting.Objectives:This study looked at accuracy of Temporal artery biopsy (TAB) in patients with suspected Giant Cell arteritis (GCA) with negative/inconclusive ultrasound (U/S) and how duration of treatment on steroids prior to these investigations and arterial specimen size affected it.Methods:Prospective study of all patients with suspected GCA referred for TAB when U/S was negative or inconclusive, as part of the local fast-track pathway (Coventry). Database included clinical findings, serological work up, U/S and TAB results and treatment. Sensitivity and specificity of U/S and TAB was calculated and compared based on duration of treatment with steroids.Results:One hundred and nine patients were referred for TAB via Coventry fast-track-pathway. The sensitivity of U/S in this cohort of patients was 9.08% and specificity was 93.33%. After 3 days of steroid this was 0% and 100% respectively. For TAB when done within 10 days of starting steroids, this was 65% and 87.5% respectively. After 20 days of steroids this was 0 % and 100%. The sensitivity and specificity was 20% and 85% when arterial specimen size was 11-15mm and 47% and 100% when specimen size was 16 mm or more. Sensitivity and specificity of U/S of 644 suspected GCA patients was 48% and 98%.Conclusion:Our study demonstrates that TAB plays a relevant role in GCA fast-track-pathways, when U/S is negative/inconclusive. TAB was more sensitive than U/S in this cohort of patients, but overall sensitivity of U/S was higher when calculated for all patients suspected with GCA. Both remain useful tests if performed early. TAB specimen size should ideally be 16mm or more and done within 10 days of starting steroids.References:[1]Jonathan Pinnell, Carl Tiivas, Kaushik Chaudhuri, Purnima Mehta, Shirish Dubey, O38 The diagnostic performance of ultrasound Doppler in a fast-track pathway for giant cell arteritis,Rheumatology, Volume 58, Issue Supplement_3, April 2019, kez105.036,https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kez105.036Disclosure of Interests:None declared


2011 ◽  
Vol 121 (S5) ◽  
pp. S264-S264
Author(s):  
Stephen V. Tornabene ◽  
Raymond Hilsinger ◽  
Raul M. Cruz

2021 ◽  
Vol 156 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S28-S29
Author(s):  
H J Hurley ◽  
P Q Deb

Abstract Introduction/Objective Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common vasculitis of the elderly, and the most common primary systemic vasculitis overall, with an annual incidence of 200/million. The long term sequelae, namely vision loss and stroke, are permanent and devastating. While GCA is often treated empirically based on clinical presentation, panarteritis on temporal artery biopsy is required for diagnosis. However, these biopsies have the tendency to be falsely negative due to skip lesions, a common feature of GCA. Therefore, we set out to determine whether longer biopsy specimens were more sensitive in the detection of GCA. Methods/Case Report A census of temporal artery biopsies performed with the indication of clinical symptoms of GCA was taken at our institution. The patient age, sex, biopsy laterality, biopsy length, and pathological diagnosis were recorded for each cataloged sample. Statistical significance of difference in biopsy length was tested using an unpaired t-test in R 4.1.0. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) A total of 114 temporal artery specimens were biopsied from 94 different patients with the indication of GCA and assigned a definitive positive or negative diagnosis. Of the 94 patients, 54 were female and 40 were male. Of the total pathological specimens, 11 were positive and 103 were negative. The overall average length of biopsy specimens was 2.13 cm with a standard deviation of 0.65 cm. The average positive biopsy was 2.26 cm long, and the average negative was 2.12 cm, an insignificant difference (0.14 cm, t = 0.7, p = 0.43). In 25 patients, biopsies were taken from both the left and right temporal arteries. Of those patients, 2 were positive for GCA and the remaining 23 were negative. Interestingly, the biopsy result in every case was identical between the left and right samples; we found no instances of pathological evidence of GCA in only one of the two samples from the same patient. Conclusion According to data taken at our institution, there is no indication to lengthen the biopsy requirements from the existing 1.5 cm. However, we have demonstrated evidence that it may be unnecessary to biopsy both temporal arteries in a single patient. Larger studies would be required to confirm our findings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diah Puspitasari ◽  
Syifa Sintia Al Khautsar ◽  
Wida Prima Mustika

Cooperatives are a forum that can help people, especially small and medium-sized communities. Cooperatives play an important role in the economic growth of the community such as the price of basic commodities which are relatively cheap and there are also cooperatives that offer borrowing and storing money for the community. Constraints that have been felt by this cooperative are that borrowers find it difficult to repay loan installments, causing bad credit. Because the cooperative in conducting credit analysis is carried out in a personal manner, namely by filling out the loan application form along with the requirements and conducting a field survey. Therefore there is a need for an evaluation to be carried out in lending to borrowers. To minimize these problems, it is necessary to detect customer criteria that are used to predict bad loans and to determine whether or not the elites are eligible to take credit using data mining. The data mining technique used is classification with the Naive Bayes method. Based on testing the accuracy of the resulting model obtained accuracy level of 59%, sensitivity (True Positive Rate (TP Rate) or Recall) of 46.80%, specificity (False Negative Rate (FN Rate or Precision) of 69.81%, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of 57.89%, and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 59.67%.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Maldiney ◽  
Hélène Greigert ◽  
Laurent Martin ◽  
Emilie Benoit ◽  
Catherine Creuzot-Garcher ◽  
...  

AbstractHistopathological examination of temporal artery biopsy (TAB) remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA) but is associated with essential limitations that emphasize the need for an upgraded pathological process. This study pioneered the use of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) for rapid and automated on-site pathological diagnosis of GCA. Sixteen TABs (12 negative and 4 positive for GCA) were selected according to major histopathological criteria of GCA following hematoxylin-eosin-saffron-staining for subsequent acquisition with FF-OCT to compare structural modifications of the artery cell wall and thickness of each tunica. Gabor filtering of FF-OCT images was then used to compute TAB orientation maps and validate a potential automated analysis of TAB sections. FF-OCT allowed both qualitative and quantitative visualization of the main structures of the temporal artery wall, from the internal elastic lamina to the vasa vasorum and red blood cells, unveiling a significant correlation with conventional histology. FF-OCT imaging of GCA TABs revealed destruction of the media with distinct remodeling of the whole arterial wall into a denser reticular fibrous neo-intima, which is distinctive of GCA pathogenesis and accessible through automated Gabor filtering. Rapid on-site FF-OCT TAB acquisition makes it possible to identify some characteristic pathological lesions of GCA within a few minutes, paving the way for potential machine intelligence-based or even non-invasive diagnosis of GCA.


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