Chapters authored
Clinical Manifestations of Giant Cell Arteritis
Giant cell arteritis (GCA), also known as temporal arteritis or Horton disease, is categorized as a large- and medium-sized vessels vasculitis. Systemic symptoms are common in GCA and although vascular involvement may be widespread, the cranial branches of the aortic arch are responsible for the hallmark symptoms of GCA: headache, jaw claudication and ocular symptoms, particularly visual loss. The large vessel (LV)-GCA phenotype may differ or overlap from cranial arteritis. Clinical consequences of LV-GCA comprise aneurysms and dissections of the aorta, as well as stenosis, occlusion and ectasia of large arteries. Symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica occurring in a patient with GCA include characteristic proximal polyarthralgias and myalgias, sometimes accompanied by remitting seronegative symmetrical synovitis with pitting edema (RS3PE), Less common manifestations reported include central nervous system involvement, audiovestibular and upper respiratory symptoms, pericarditis, mesenteric ischemia and female genital tract involvement.
Part of the book: Giant-Cell Arteritis
Clinical Manifestations of Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease characterized by granulomatous inflammation in affected tissues. Any tissue may become affected and so different symptoms can occur. There can also be asymptomatic organ involvement. It may present as a multisystem disease or individual organ involvement and it is also associated with general symptoms like fever, weight loss, night sweats or fatigue. Clinical onset may be acute or subacute and clinical course may be self-remitting or chronic. Most commonly sarcoidosis affects the lungs (manifesting as dyspnea, chest pain or cough) and/or thoracic lymph nodes. Extrapulmonary sarcoidosis includes peripheral lymphadenopathy, abdominal (including renal, hepatic, splenic, gastrointestinal), neurological, musculoskeletal, ocular, cardiac, cutaneous and head and neck sarcoidosis (including nose/paranasal sinuses, salivary glands). Less commonly, sarcoidosis can affect bone marrow. Multiple associations of organ involvement occur to configure clinical phenotypes (based on organ manifestations that frequently occur together) and syndromes like Löfgren’s or Heerfordt-Waldenström’s.
Part of the book: Sarcoidosis