[Diagnosis and treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica]

Polymyalgia rheumatica is a clinically defined disorder characterised by inflammatory pain in the neck, back, or shoulder or pelvic girdle muscles in a patient over 50 years of age. Results of laboratory work-up reflect only the inflammatory syndrome. Early diagnosis allows rapid initiation of low-dose corticosteroids, which dramatically improves the symptoms and avoids long, costly and difficult investigations. The cause of the disorder is poorly understood and its relationship to temporal arteritis is sometimes unclear, although the two can usually be distinguished, based on recent findings.