title: [Aortic involvement in giant cell arteritis. A prospective follow-up of 11 patients using computed tomography].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine clinical and radiological features, using computed tomography (CT-scan) in patients with aortic involvement related to giant cell arteritis (GCA), and to assess both clinical and CT-scan outcome after therapy institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aortic involvement due to GCA was investigated in all patients, using CT-scan at diagnosis, and at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up after therapy institution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 11 consecutive patients consisted of 4 men and 7 women with mean age of 64.5 years. Patients exhibited: constitutional symptoms (N=9; 82%), dorsalgia (N=3; 27%), clinical signs of GCA (N=3; 27%) and of upper limb large vessel impairment (N=6; 55%). CT-scan showed aortitis involving both thoracic and abdominal aorta (N=6; 55%), abdominal (N=2; 18%) or thoracic aorta (N=2; 18%) and thoracic aortic aneurysm (N=1; 9%). At one-year follow-up, CT-scan revealed: complete resolution (N=7; 64%) and improvement (N=3; 27%) of aortic damage; the patient, who had thoracic aortic aneurysm, underwent surgical treatment, as aortic lesion remained unchanged on CT-scan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study underlines that CT-scan is a helpful test in diagnosis and follow-up of aortic involvement in patients with GCA.
authors.affiliation: Département de Médecine Interne, CHU de Rouen-Boisguillaume, 76031 Rouen cedex, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hervé
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Choussy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Janvresse
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cailleux
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Levesque
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marie
mesh_terms: D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001025:Aortitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed