Biopsy-negative giant cell arteritis: Clinical spectrum and predictive factors for positive temporal artery biopsy*,**
Section snippets
Patients and methods
We performed a retrospective study of the case records of all patients diagnosed with GCA in the Department of Medicine of the Hospital Xeral-Calde (Lugo, Spain) from January 1981 through December 1998. The Hospital Xeral-Calde is the only referral center for a mixed rural (60%) and urban population of approximately 250,000 people living in the Lugo region of northwestern Spain The main characteristics of the Lugo population have been reported previously 18, 19, 20, 21. All patients with
Results
One hundred ninety consecutive patients were diagnosed with GCA in the Lugo region from January 1981 to December 1998. One hundred fifty-three of them were diagnosed by rheumatologists and 37 by internal medicine staff physicians. Twenty-nine of the 190 patients (15.3%) had a negative TAB. The characteristics of patients with biopsy-proven GCA in the Lugo region have been described previously 18, 19, 20, 22, 23 and, for this reason, in this report we have undertaken a more detailed study of the
Discussion
In the Lugo region of northwestern Spain, temporal artery biopsy yield was intermediate between those observed in some Scandinavian countries, Rochester, Minnesota (USA), and Israel and those from other southern European countries 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 33.
Attempts to correlate presenting features with TAB results have been undertaken previously. Hall et al found that jaw claudication and abnormal temporal artery on physical examination were more common in biopsy-proven than in biopsy-negative
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Drs Javier Alvarez-Ferreira and Fernando Bal (Pathology Division) for their valuable help in performing this study, and Drs Teresa Armada and Jaime Capella from the Medical Record Department of the Hospital Xeral-Calde for reviewing the medical records.
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Cited by (0)
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Miguel A. Gonzalez-Gay, MD, PhD: Staff Physician, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo, Spain; Carlos Garcia-Porrua, MD, PhD: Staff Physician, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo. Spain; Javier Llorca, MD, PhD: Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain; Carmen Gonzalez-Louzao, MD: Resident, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo, Spain; Pilar Rodriguez-Ledo, MD: Family physician, Lugo, Spain.
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Address reprint requests to Miguel A. Gonzalez-Gay, MD, PhD, Division of Rheumatology, Hospital Xeral-Calde, c/o Dr. Ochoa s/n, 27004 Lugo, Spain. E-mail: [email protected]