title: Case report: acute spontaneous Achilles tendon rupture in a patient with giant cell arteritis.
abstract: We report a case of a 69-yr-old previously healthy man with acute spontaneous Achilles tendon rupture and severe tendonitis, which occurred after 2 weeks of steroid therapy for newly diagnosed giant cell arteritis. The Achilles tendon rupture was treated conservatively and the tendonitis resolved incrementally with steroid dose reduction. The patient made a complete recovery. In view of the widespread use of steroids in practice, this novel case presentation has important clinical implications. The tendon rupture early in the course of high-dose steroid therapy expands the understanding of this adverse reaction, which was previously reported only with long-term steroid therapy. The severe tendonitis responded to steroid therapy reduction suggesting a dose correlation. This report adds to a sole previous report of a spontaneous Achilles tendon rupture associated with giant cell arteritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
authors.forename: T Jared
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Bunch
authors.forename: Gail A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Welsh
authors.forename: Dylan V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: V Swaroop
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Santhi
mesh_terms: D000125:Achilles Tendon / Q000473:pathology*; D000368:Aged; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D011239:Prednisolone