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[Skull metastase masquerading as temporal arteritis: report of two cases]
1Service de médecine interne, CHU Hôtel-Dieu, place Alexis-Ricordeau, 44000 Nantes, France. antoine.neel@univ-nantes.fr
Introduction:
Temporal arteritis is the most common systemic vasculitis of the elderly. A definitive diagnosis is obtained on temporal artery biopsy examination (TAB). However, 30% of TAB yields false negative results. In such cases, diagnosis relies on clinical presentation and exclusion of alternative diagnosis. Conversely, false positive TAB are uncommon.
Case Reports:
We report two patients who presented with headache, scalp tenderness and increased acute phase reactants, suggesting temporal arteritis, but which turned out to reveal a skull metastase. Temporal artery biopsy performed in one case demonstrated arterial wall inflammation.
Conclusion:
Clinicians must be aware that a skull lesion can mimick temporal arteritis.