Vnitr Lek 2022, 68(5):266-272 | DOI: 10.36290/vnl.2022.058

Treatment of giant cell arteritis - current approach and new possibilities

Jakub Videman, Martina Skácelová, Pavel Horák, Adéla Skoumalová, Dominik Hraboš
III. interní klinika - nefrologická, revmatologická a endokrinologická, FN a LF UP Olomouc

Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) is an autoimmune mediated systemic vasculitis affecting large arteries - the aorta and its branches. It has the highest incidence of all systemic vasculitides and manifests nearly exclusively in patients aged 50 or older. Amongst its non-specific and specific symptoms are headaches, mastication claudication or signs of rheumatic polymyalgia, a relatively common and immediate treatment requiring condition being acute vision loss due to optic ischemia. A GCA diagnosis is based on clinical and paraclinical findings and imaging techniques including PET/CT; with an important role still being played by histological verification from temporal artery biopsy. Treatment is based on immunosuppressive agents - systemic glucocorticoids, with adjunct therapy options being methotrexate and tocilizumab. Currently, there are also several clinical trials examining the efficacy of other modern biological agents in GCA.

Keywords: Giant Cell Arteritis, glucocorticoids, methotrexate, tocilizumab.

Accepted: August 4, 2022; Published: August 22, 2022  Show citation

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Videman J, Skácelová M, Horák P, Skoumalová A, Hraboš D. Treatment of giant cell arteritis - current approach and new possibilities. Vnitr Lek. 2022;68(5):266-272. doi: 10.36290/vnl.2022.058.
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