title: Cerebral infarction due to giant cell arteritis-three case reports.
abstract: The objective of this report was to explore the clinical features of patients with cerebral infarction due to giant cell (temporal) arteritis (GCA) and its characteristic changes in pathology, and on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Three cases of cerebral infarction due to GCA, treated during the past 2 years, were analyzed. Their clinical manifestations were observed carefully, their temporal artery biopsies were performed, their immunohistochemistries were done, and CT as well as MRI were used. The results showed that all the patients had new-onset headache and temporal artery abnormality when the disease began, and there was tremor on the right limbs of 1 patient; temporal artery biopsies revealed evidence of inflammatory cell infiltration in the arterial wall, mainly including T-lymphocytes and macrophages; small cerebral infarction foci were found on CT and MRI; and the responses to corticosteroid therapies were good. The results suggest that it is important to recognize the clinical features of cerebral infarction due to GCA, including the changes of pathology and on CT and MRI. In some cases, special attention is paid to differentiating between atherosclerotic infarction and infections to avoid misdiagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, Hunan, China P.R. hzpxi@sina.com
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Qidong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jinghe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jiangguang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged