[Intermittent claudication of the jaw in temporal arteritis]

Stiffness of the jaw was noted in the first descriptions of temporal arteritis. It was only in 1944 that Horton used the term intermittent claudication and related this sign to effort ischemia due to thrombosis of facial arteries. The introduction of ultrasound techniques has enabled the permeability of facial arteries to be confirmed in spite of induration and absence of pulsatility clinically. Anatomical studies have defined the preponderant role of the internal maxillary artery in the vascular supply of the masseter muscles and have enabled the localization of an appropriate and reliable site for ultrasound study: the pterygo-maxillary fossa. The velocimetric data thus collected confirm that the internal maxillary artery is affected and define the etiopathogenesis of intermittent jaw claudication during temporal arteritis. This sign is observed on average in one patient in three suffering from temporal arteritis. While several cases of intermittent jaw claudication have been described in severe atheromatous stenosis of the common carotid or external carotid arteries, or in relation to other causes (rheumatological, neoplastic, psychological ...), the observation of this syndrome in a suspicious clinical and paraclinical context constitutes an excellent orientation sign in favor of temporal arteritis.