What is giant cell arteritis?
Giant cell arteritis is an inflammation of the lining of your arteries.
Giant cell arteritis frequently causes headaches, scalp tenderness, jaw pain and vision problems. Untreated, it can lead to blindness.
Prompt treatment with corticosteroid medications usually relieves symptoms of giant cell arteritis and might prevent loss of vision. You'll likely begin to feel better within days of starting treatment.
But even with treatment, relapses are common.
You'll need to visit your doctor regularly for checkups and treatment of any side effects from taking corticosteroids.
Symptoms
The most common symptoms of giant cell arteritis are head pain and tenderness that usually affects both temples.
Generally, signs and symptoms of giant cell arteritis include:
- Persistent, severe head pain, usually in your temple area
- Scalp tenderness
- Jaw pain when you chew or open your mouth wide
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Unintended weight loss
- Vision loss or double vision
- Sudden, permanent loss of vision in one eye
Pain and stiffness in the neck, shoulders or hips are common symptoms of a related disorder, polymyalgia rheumatica. About 50 percent of people with giant cell arteritis also have polymyalgia rheumatica.
Causes
With giant cell arteritis, the lining of arteries becomes inflamed, causing them to swell.
This swelling narrows your blood vessels, reducing the amount of blood.
Swelling most often occurs in the arteries in the temples.
What causes these arteries to become inflamed isn't known, but it's thought to involve abnormal attacks on artery walls by the immune system.
Certain genes and environmental factors might increase your susceptibility to the condition.
Complications
Giant cell arteritis can cause serious complications, including:
- Blindness.
- Aortic aneurysm.
- Stroke.
Source:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/giant-cell-arteritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20372758
