TY - JOUR T1 - Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography for Giant Cell Arteritis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1763 LP - 1764 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.170966 VL - 44 IS - 12 AU - DANIEL BLOCKMANS Y1 - 2017/12/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/44/12/1763.abstract N2 - Up to 20 years ago, giant cell arteritis (GCA) was regarded as a form of vasculitis that involved almost solely the cranial arteries in elderly people, and when undiagnosed and untreated, could lead to blindness. Involvement of other arteries in GCA, such as the coronary arteries or the ascending aorta, manifested by myocardial infarction or aortic rupture, respectively, was regarded as rather exceptional1.With the use of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in patients suspected of having GCA, this concept changed. We now know that more than half of biopsy-proven patients with GCA have clear but asymptomatic inflammation of their aorta; up to 75% of the subclavian arteries are involved in this form of large-vessel vasculitis (LVV)2. FDG uptake patterns on PET of patients with GCA and Takayasu arteritis in fact are almost identical (because the temporal artery itself cannot be visualized on PET owing to the small size of the artery, its superficial location, and the vicinity of the FDG-consuming brain). The question now arises whether these are 2 different diseases or manifestations of the same disease attacking people at different ages3.The American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for GCA date from 1990, the pre-PET era, and their main emphasis is on cranial symptoms4. They are much less suited for the large-vessel variant of GCA largely unknown at that time, with fever, weight loss, or … Address correspondence to Prof. Dr. D. Blockmans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, General Internal Medicine, Herestraat 49, Leuven B-3000, Belgium. E-mail: daniel.blockmans{at}uzleuven.be ER -