title: Listen to the axillary artery: diagnosis of occult giant cell arteritis.
abstract: Large-vessel involvement is increasingly recognized in giant cell arteritis (GCA) and frequently occurs with an unspecific systemic inflammatory syndrome or fever of unknown origin. We describe the case of a 68-year-old woman with a history of polymyalgia rheumatica who presented with progressive weight loss, unexplained anemia, and a marked humoral inflammatory response. Diagnosis of large-vessel GCA was facilitated by axillary artery auscultation, revealing a bilateral axillary artery bruit. The diagnosis was confirmed by color duplex sonography and temporal artery biopsy. In elderly patients with an unspecific systemic inflammatory condition, axillary artery auscultation is a simple but valuable tool for detection of underlying occult large-vessel GCA.
authors: Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital-Campus City Center, Munich, Germany. michael.czihal@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Czihal
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Brendel
authors: Christa
authors: C
authors: Seibold
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Reincke
authors: Ulrich
authors: U
authors: Hoffmann