Pulmonary involvement in giant cell arteritis

While clinically suspected in some cases, pulmonary lesions in giant cell arteritis have rarely been described pathologically. We report the findings at autopsy in an elderly woman with typical giant cell arteritis. In addition to inflammation of temporal and other major systemic vessels, large- and medium-sized pulmonary arteries showed focal necrosis as well as medial granulomatous inflammation. These findings, as well as a review of previous clinical and pathologic reports, emphasize that the disease can affect the lungs and may rarely be a significant cause of morbidity.