Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0039483 (giant cell arteritis)
 3,204 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A 63-year-old woman with psoriatic arthritis developed arthralgias and shoulder girdle myalgias which were controlled with amitriptyline. Some months later she presented with headache, jaw claudication, weight loss, and chest pain. Anemia of chronic disease, cholestasis, steatorrhea, and pericardial effusion were noted. Giant cell arteritis (GCA) was diagnosed on temporal artery biopsy and prednisone was begun. Her symptoms rapidly abated but steatorrhea continued. It is suggested that these problems were related to GCA. Physicians need to be alert to the diverse presentations of GCA.
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PMID:Giant cell arteritis associated with pericarditis and pancreatic insufficiency in a patient with psoriatic arthritis. 271 1

ESR is a time-honored, simple, inexpensive test, but unfortunately it lacks sensitivity and specificity. Clinicians need to be aware of appropriate uses, because any test is expensive when ordered often, and evaluation of false-positive results may incur substantial costs and place the patient at risk from additional procedures. ESR should not be used to screen asymptomatic persons for disease. If an increased ESR is encountered and no explanation is immediately apparent, clinicians should repeat the test in several months rather than pursue an exhaustive search for occult disease. ESR may be useful in establishing a "sickness index" in elderly persons who have nonspecific changes in health status and a moderate probability of underlying disease; in screening for infection in specific settings (e.g., orthopedic surgery, pediatrics, gynecology); in diagnosing and monitoring temporal arteritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and possibly other rheumatic diseases; in monitoring patients with treated Hodgkin's disease; and in assessing iron deficiency in anemia of chronic disease (when correlated with serum ferritin level). An ESR value exceeding 100 mm/hr has a 90% predictive value for serious underlying disease, most often infection, collagen vascular disease, or metastatic tumor. In asymptomatic persons with a markedly elevated ESR value, a minimal number of tests usually reveal the cause.
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PMID:The erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Still a helpful test when used judiciously. 959 Sep 99