Giant Cell Arteritis with or without Aortitis at Diagnosis. A Retrospective Study of 22 Patients with Longterm Followup

Studies have shown that aortitis may be present in half the patients with recent-onset giant cell arteritis (GCA). We assessed whether aortitis at diagnosis affects longterm outcome in patients with GCA.We retrospectively analyzed the longterm outcome of a prospective cohort of 22 patients with biopsy-proven GCA who all had aortic computed tomography (CT) evaluation at the time of diagnosis of GCA between May 1998 and November 1999. Longterm...