Abstract
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic vasculitis which typically occurs in persons over 50 years old. GCA is closely related to polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). A temporal artery biopsy is the gold standard test for the diagnosis of GCA. Recently, there is increasing evidence for the role of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18 F-FDG-PET) in diagnosis of vasculitis. Here, we report on a case of a 67-year-old Korean male who was diagnosed with atypical GCA in subclinical stage concomitant with PMR by 18 F-FDG-PET. After treatment, abnormal findings of 18 F-FDG-PET were improved.
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![]() | Figure 1.
18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography before treatment. There are increased glucose metabolism in the walls of the ascending aorta, aortic arch, thoracic descending aorta, both subclavian arteries, both common carotid arteries and especially both common femoral arteries and their large branches with wall thickening. |
![]() | Figure 2.
18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography after 12 months of treatment. There is no metabolic evidence of arteritis. |
![]() | Figure 3.
18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography images and aorta to liver maximal standardized uptake value ratio. (A) The aorta to liver ratio before treatment was 1.49 (thoracic aorta 3.45, liver 2.32). (B) The aorta to liver ratio after treatment was 0.98 (thoracic aorta 2.75, liver 2.80). |