Recovery of vision in a 47-year-old man with fulminant giant cell arteritis

Giant cell arteritis is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis that often causes profound and irreversible visual loss in elderly individuals. We describe a 47-year-old man with fulminant giant cell arteritis whose clinical picture included severe visual loss and several unusual or previously unreported findings. Aggressive treatment with intravenous corticosteroids resulted in a dramatic improvement in the patient's vision. Although no firm conclusions can be drawn from the outcome in a single case, we believe that, in some patients with arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy, aggressive treatment with intravenous corticosteroids may be associated with a better visual prognosis than treatment by the oral route.