J Rheum Dis.  2016 Dec;23(6):396-400. 10.4078/jrd.2016.23.6.396.

Case of Brain Biopsy Proven Giant Cell Arteritis

• Park HH
• Kang SH
• Park SH
• Park JS
• Koo BS

• KMID: 2364695
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4078/jrd.2016.23.6.396

Abstract

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is categorized as vasculitis of the large and medium-sized vessels. Visual loss is one potential consequence of cranial arteritis. Temporal artery biopsies are performed frequently to demonstrate the involvement of arteritis. On the other hand, cerebral artery involvement with pathological findings is not well documented in patients with GCA. We report a rare case of GCA with cerebral vessel involvement in a 76-year-old woman.

Keyword

Giant cell arteritis; Cerebral artery; Vasculitis

MeSH Terms

Aged
Arteritis
Biopsy*
Brain*
Cerebral Arteries
Female
Giant Cell Arteritis*
Giant Cells*
Hand
Humans
Temporal Arteries
Vasculitis

Figure

• 

  Figure 1. Brain magnetic resonance T1-weighted contrastenhanced and T2-weighted images demonstrate a mass with vasogenic edema in the left frontal and temporal lobes. (A∼D) T2-weighted sequence images; (E∼H) T1-weighted contrastenhanced sequence images.

• 

  Figure 2. Hematoxylin and eosin– stained sections demonstrating tissue necrosis and perivascular lymphocyte infiltration into the adjacent brain tissue (A, ×10) and artery with intimal thickening and multi-nucleated giant cell (arrow) (B, ×40).

• 

  Figure 3. Computed tomography with angiography shows left temporal artery stenosis and occlusion (wide arrow) as well as left middle cerebral artery stenosis (narrow arrow).

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