The Effect of Corticosteroids on Temporal Artery Biopsy Positivity in Giant Cell Arteritis: Timing is Everything

Temporal artery biopsy (TAB) remains the standard criterion for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA). Temporal artery biopsy is suggested to be performed within 2 weeks from the initiation of corticosteroids. However, the effects of TAB timing on the sensitivity of its findings still warrant further investigation.

We reviewed the medical records of patients with GCA from a tertiary medical center in Germany over an 8-year period.

We analyzed data from 109 patients with a median age of 76 years and a median time from glucocorticoid treatment to TAB of 4 days. Approximately 60% of biopsies were positive. Our analysis yielded a nonsignificant trend toward shorter duration of corticosteroid treatment in the TAB(+) group ( p = 0.06). A more than 7 days' duration of steroid treatment was independently linked with lower rates of positive TAB (adjusted odds ratio, 0.33; 95% confidence interval, 0.11-1.00).

We conclude that the duration of corticosteroid treatment seems to affect the positivity of TAB in patients with suspected GCA. Further larger studies are required to confirm the generalizability of our findings.