[Abdominal aortitis in polymyalgia rheumatica. Disease course as documented with computerized tomography and proton...

In a 59-year-old woman, after four years of ambiguous and unidentified course of her disease (feeling of weakness, inappetence, weight loss, pain in the shoulder girdle, sub-febrile temperatures, increased BSR), polymyalgia rheumatica was eventually diagnosed. The findings at the abdominal aorta were particularly marked: sonography revealed a 10 mm wide echo-poor fringe around the aorta which in the computed tomogram became slightly more echogenic after injection of contrast medium. In the magnetic resonance tomogram (MR) the aortic wall was homogeneously thickened and well-defined against the retroperitoneal tissue. Subsequent to the diagnosis a therapy with glucocorticoids was initiated and strictly continued for by now 18 months. This resulted in long-term clinical remission. CT and MR proved highly suitable for long-term monitoring (> 5 years).