Predictive clinical and laboratory factors in the diagnosis of temporal arteritis

Surgeons are frequently called upon to perform temporal artery biopsy in patients suspected of having temporal arteritis. In this study, we have attempted to identify clinical and laboratory features that may predict the results of temporal artery biopsy for the diagnosis of temporal arteritis. The medical records of patients undergoing temporal artery biopsy over a 10-year period in one hospital were reviewed. Details of presenting features were recorded and comparisons made between biopsy-positive and biopsy-negative patients. Of 59 patients who underwent temporal artery biopsy, the records of 51 patients were located. Of these, 17 patients had positive biopsy specimens and 33 had negative biopsies. In one patient, no temporal artery was found in the biopsy specimen. In the biopsy-positive patients, 69% had an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of greater than 50 mm/h compared to 31% of biopsy negative patients (P = 0.03). With regard to the other clinical and laboratory parameters that were evaluated, no statistically significant differences were found between biopsy-positive and biopsy-negative patients.