Danger level: High
What is it?
Temporal arteritis (also known as giant cell arteritis) is a disease in which there is an inflammation of your blood vessels (which in medical terms is called vasculitis). Most often it affects the arteries in our head.
Who gets it?
Temporal arteritis (TA) affects women about 2-3 as much as men. It’s usually seen after age 50 (90% of people with TA are over 60), and happens to 1-5 in 10,000 people.
It’s more common in white people, especially if their origin is northern European.
What causes it?
Vasculitis is a condition in which our blood vessels get inflamed, which damages them and causes various diseases. It can affect blood vessels of any size: small, medium and large.
In TA, medium and large sized arteries are involved. It is called “temporal arteritis” is it most commonly involves the superficial temporal arteries, located on our temples.
The superficial temporal artery (marked by a line above). It’s the artery most commonly involved in TA.
The disease’s other name, “giant cell arteritis”, means that it involves other medium and large arteries, including the aorta, carotid, subclavian and others.
No one knows for sure what causes the inflammation in these arteries.
How does it feel?
The most common symptom is a headache, and tenderness around the temples, where these arteries lie. The pulses in these arteries may vanish as well.
Other things which can be felt include:
- Jaw pain when you chew – This is called jaw claudication in medical language.
- Low grade fever – Meaning you have a fever, but it’s not too high (around 99.5F or 37.5C).
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Muscle pain
- Lack of appetite
One of the most feared things which can happen in this disease is the involvement of another nearby artery – the opthalmic artery. This artery sends blood to our eye nerves, and damage to it can cause blindness, which is why treating this disease on time is very important.
About half the people with TA also have a condition called polymyalgia rheumatica. It involves pain and stiffness in the neck, arms or hips. It’s usually worse in the morning before going out of bed.
How is it discovered?
There are two main things done to discover TA:
- Blood tests – Two tests, called ESR and CRP hint at TA when they are high.
- Biopsy – This is a procedure in which a piece of the temporal artery is taken and seen under a microscope to see if it is inflamed.
How is it treated?
The drug of choice to treat TA is steroids. Since the vision is threatened here, many doctors give these even before they are certain you have TA, to save your eye sight.
What happens after treatment?
Usually, if treated on time, the disease tends to go away. It may last up to 2 years.
The bottom line – How do I avoid it?
There’s currently no known way to prevent TA.
What next?
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