[Clinical and developmental aspects of Horton's disease. Retrospective study of 100 cases]

100 patients, from three internal medicine departments, were the subject of a retrospective study concerning the clinical manifestations and the evolution of Horton's disease. The mean age is 71 years, with a 2/1 female predominance. A temporal artery biopsy was obtained in all cases. Besides the prevalence of clinical symptoms (headaches: 80 p. cent; weight loss: 78 p. cent; fever: 65 p. cent; local inflammation: 52 p. cent, frequent pseudo-polyarthritis: 40 p. cent and sometimes severe ocular localizations (11 p. cent blindness), other signs should be emphasized: muscular pain (49%), skin hyperesthesias (37%), painful jaw (33%), etc. The inflammatory syndrome dominates the biological picture (96%); the alkaline phosphatases are increased in 37 p. cent of cases. Temporal artery biopsy was positive in 82 p. cent of cases, which confirms the excellent sensitivity of this test, preceded by a Doppler study in only 28 cases. Extension of the inflammatory process to the large vessels was demonstrated 8 times, on clinical data. Finally, the mean length of the steroid treatment was two years with 14 relapses and 8 deaths.