Temporal arteritis

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Carotid artery anatomy

Arteritis - temporal; Cranial arteritis; Giant cell arteritis

• fever
• a throbbing headache on one side of the head or the back of the head
• scalp sensitivity, tenderness when touching the scalp
• jaw pain, intermittent or when chewing
• vision difficulties
  • blurred vision, double vision
  • reduced vision, blindness in one or both eyes
• weakness, excessive tiredness
• a general ill feeling
• a loss of appetite
• weight loss (more than 5% of total body weight)
• muscle aches
• excessive sweating

• mouth sores
• joint stiffness
• joint pain
• hearing loss
• bleeding gums
• face pain

When the doctor feels (palpates) the head, the scalp is sensitive and often shows a tender, thick artery on one side of the head. The affected artery may have a weakened pulse or no pulse. About 40% of people will have other nonspecific symptoms such as respiratory complaints (most frequently dry cough) or mononeuritis multiplex (weakness and/or pain of multiple individual nerve groups). Rarely, paralysis of eye muscles) may occur. A persistent fever may be the only symptom.

Blood tests are nonspecific.

• A sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein are almost always very high.
• A hemoglobin or hematocrit may be normal or low.
• Liver function tests may be abnormal, including elevated alkaline phosphatase , if the disorder is systemic.

A biopsy and analysis of tissue from the affected artery show changes that confirm the diagnosis of temporal vasculitis in most cases.

Review Date: 04/20/2005
Reviewed By: Stanford Peng, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Rheumatology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.