TY - JOUR T1 - Interleukin 6 Blockade as Steroid-sparing Treatment for 2 Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 2080 LP - 2081 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.110496 VL - 38 IS - 9 AU - SAVINO SCIASCIA AU - DANIELA ROSSI AU - DARIO ROCCATELLO Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/38/9/2080.abstract N2 - To the Editor:Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common idiopathic systemic vasculitis of large vessels. It affects individuals over 50 years of age. The prevalence is approximately 200 per 100,000 persons1. Although it may be generalized, vessel inflammation most frequently involves the muscular arteries originating from the aortic arch and their branches and usually presents with new-onset or worsened headache, jaw claudication, scalp or temporal artery tenderness with decreased pulsation, or visual symptoms such as eye pain, amaurosis fugax, diplopia and visual loss. High-dose corticosteroid (CS) therapy, which may last 1 to 5 years, is the basic treatment for GCA. However, in about 60% of patients the long duration of treatment causes serious, dose-related side effects2. For patients whose disease is resistant to or dependent on CS therapy, methotrexate (MTX) or azathioprine (AZA) is used as steroid-sparing second-line treatment, with conflicting results3. While MTX seems to be effective in controlling GCA4, … Address correspondence to Dr. Roccatello; E-mail: dario.roccatello{at}unito.it ER -