Simultaneous clinical manifestations of malignancy and giant cell temporal arteritis in a young woman

The rare instance of adenocarcinoma of the lung that appeared concurrently with a biopsy proven giant cell temporal arteritis in a 45-year-old woman is described. The lung cancer (without lymph node metastases) was resected, and the temporal arteritis treated with prednisone in the standard dosage regimen. At 36 months followup, she was well with no signs of recurrence or metastases of the lung cancer, nor any recrudescence of temporal arteritis or polymyalgia rheumatica symptoms. This unusual association of lung cancer and temporal arteritis in a young woman, most probably a chance occurrence, has not been previously reported.