[Eye manifestations of Horton's disease]

Ocular complications occurring in temporal arteritis are of different severities. These manifestations of the disease occurred in a population of 57 patients with diagnosis of temporal arteritis, in 16 of them (28%). The diagnosis was suggested by finding an inflammatory syndrome (high erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and confirmed by temporal artery biopsy. In making this diagnosis, it was helpful to find a history of characteristic temporal headaches, neckache, jaw claudication, fever and malaise or weight loss in addition to polymyalgia and polyarthralgia. 6 patients presented with diplopia and different ocular muscle or nerve palsies. The 10 others came for sudden loss of vision due to ischemic anterior or posterior neuropathy and in one case, central artery obliteration. Prompt treatment with steroids gave good results on oculomotor troubles and in preventing the risk of involvement of the fellow eye. But loss of vision did not regress with this treatment. That means the importance in making this diagnosis and starting very promptly this treatment.