Giant cell arteritis: a multicenter observational study in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To describe demographic features, disease manifestations and therapy in patients with giant cell arteritis from referral centers in Brazil. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed on 45 giant cell arteritis patients from three university hospitals in Brazil. Diagnoses were based on the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for giant cell arteritis or temporal artery biopsy findings. RESULTS: Most patients were Caucasian, and females were slightly more predominant. The frequencies of disease manifestations were as follows: temporal headache in 82.2%, neuro-ophthalmologic manifestations in 68.9%, jaw claudication in 48.9%, systemic symptoms in 44.4%, polymyalgia rheumatica in 35.6% and extra-cranial vessel involvement in 17.8% of cases. Aortic aneurysms were observed in 6.6% of patients. A comparison between patients with biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis and those without temporal artery biopsies did not yield significant differences in disease manifestations. All patients were treated with oral prednisone, and intravenous methylprednisolone was administered to nearly half of the patients. Methotrexate was the most commonly used immunosuppressive agent, and low-dose aspirin was prescribed to the majority of patients. Relapses occurred in 28.9% of patients, and aspirin had a protective effect against relapses. Females had higher prevalences of polymyalgia rheumatica, systemic manifestations and jaw claudication, while permanent visual loss was more prevalent in men. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the clinical features of Brazilian giant cell arteritis patients were similar to those found in other studies, except for the high prevalence of neuro-ophthalmic manifestations and permanent blindness in the Brazilian patients. Aspirin had a protective effect on relapses.

Tratamento da Arterite de Takayasu / Takayasu's arteritis treatment

A arterite de Takayasu (AT) é uma vasculite granulomatosa crônica que envolve a aorta e seu principais ramos.A monitoração da atividade da doença e o melhor esquema terapêutico ainda têm sido um desafio para todos os que tratam estes pacientes. Costicorteróides e imunossupressores vêm sendo utilizados na prática clínica diária com resultados nem sempre animadores. Apesar de não haver estudos controlados que abordem o tratamento da AT, diferentes estudos observacionais descrevem a resposta de pacientes com AT ao uso de corticosteróides, metotrexato (MTX), azatioprina e ciclofosfamida. Após a introdução da terapia biológica, novas perspectivas têm surgido para os pacientes com AT refratários aos esquemas terapêuticos tradicionais.