Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 31, 2025

An Immunohistopathologic Study to Profile the Folate Receptor Beta Macrophage and Vascular Immune Microenvironment in Giant Cell Arteritis
Published on: February 8, 2019
Prevalence and characteristics of subclinical giant cell arteritis in polymyalgia rheumatica
Eugenio De Miguel1, Pierluigi Macchioni2, Edoardo Conticini3
1Rheumatology Department, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
Objective:
The main objective of this study was to analyse the prevalence and characteristics of subclinical GCA in patients with PMR.
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional multicentre international study of consecutive patients with newly diagnosed PMR without symptoms or signs suggestive of GCA. All patients underwent US of the temporal superficial, common carotid, subclavian and axillary arteries. Patients with halo signs in at least one examined artery were considered to have subclinical GCA. The clinical, demographic and laboratory characteristics of the PMR group without subclinical vasculitis were compared with subclinical GCA, and the pattern of vessel involvement was compared with that of a classical single-centre GCA cohort.
Results:
We included 346 PMR patients, 267 (77.2%) without subclinical GCA and 79 (22.8%) with subclinical GCA. The PMR patients with subclinical GCA were significantly older, had a longer duration of morning stiffness and more frequently reported hip pain than PMR without subclinical GCA. PMR with subclinical GCA showed a predominant extracranial large vessel pattern of vasculitic involvement compared with classical GCA, where the cranial phenotype predominated. The patients with PMR in the classical GCA group showed a pattern of vessel involvement similar to classical GCA without PMR but different from PMR with subclinical involvement.
Conclusion:
More than a fifth of the pure PMR patients had US findings consistent with subclinical GCA. This specific subset of patients showed a predilection for extracranial artery involvement. The optimal screening strategy to assess the presence of vasculitis in PMR remains to be determined.
More Related Videos
07:25Author Spotlight: A Focus on Standardized Salivary Gland Ultrasound Protocol in Connective Tissue Disease Research
Published on: October 13, 2023
04:50Preliminary Study on Acupuncture Combined with Grain-sized Moxibustion for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis with Finger Joint Pain
Published on: May 16, 2025
Related Concept Videos
Rheumatic Heart Disease II: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnostic Studies
Genome-wide Association Studies-GWAS
GWAS does not require the identification of the target gene involved in...
Myocarditis II: Clinical Features and Diagnostic Tests
Pericarditis II: Clinical Features and Diagnostic Tests
Rheumatic Heart Disease I: Introduction
Atherosclerosis II: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnostic Tests