title: Treatment of giant cell arteritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Giant cell arteritis (GCA) remains a potentially blinding inflammatory vasculitis of the elderly. Because prolonged doses of corticosteroids remain the best established treatment, side-effects during treatment are common and potentially serious. This review addresses the challenges clinicians face in managing this disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High-dose corticosteroids with slow tapering and close monitoring are the mainstay of treatment. Investigations into adjunctive treatment have yet to establish other agents as beneficial, but further research is ongoing with some promising results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GCA represents a challenging illness to clinicians because of its potential for causing blindness and the need for prolonged high doses of corticosteroids with their many complications.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Ophthalmology, Blanton Eye Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital bBaylor College of Medicine cDepartment of Ophthalmology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medical College dUTMB Galveston eUT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas fThe University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Sumayya J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Almarzouqi
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D013256:Steroids
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D013256:Steroids