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)

The cause of headaches in older people is more likely to be disease than in younger people. Therefore, a high index of suspicion and a willingness to investigate new headaches in the elderly are essential. Benign dysfunctional headaches (eg, migraine, tension-type headaches) that have carried over from youth are found most often. However, several diseases with increased prevalence in the elderly can cause headaches, including giant cell arteritis, intracranial mass lesions, ischemic cerebrovascular disease, and chronic obstructive lung disease with hypercapnia. Unfortunately, many prescription and over-the-counter drugs being taken for medical diseases commonly found in aging patients can cause headaches. Hypnic headaches are an unusual but easily recognized and treated problem found only in the elderly.
 ...
PMID:Headaches in older people. How are they different in this age-group? 915 9

Radionuclide bone scintigraphy is a sensitive but not a specific technique for the diagnosis of bone metastases. Three patients, a man of 67 on steroid therapy because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and prostate cancer, a woman of 76 on steroid therapy because of temporal arteritis and a 50-year-old man with pain in the back, had bone scintigrams showing abnormal uptake (hot spots). There were delays of months before the diagnosis of osteoporosis instead of bone metastases was made. Abnormal uptake on a bone scintigram is often non-specific and requires further evaluation using supplementary diagnostic techniques.
 ...
PMID:[Hot spots: metastases or osteoporosis?]. 934 May 50

To describe the association between invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and steroid treatment in patients with no immunodepression attributable to other causes. We reviewed the case histories of apparently non immunodepressed patients in our hospital with histological diagnoses of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis between 1992 through 1996. Seven patients were identified. Laboratory, clinical and radiological data were collected, as well as type and duration of steroid treatment. Four patients suffered underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 1 had temporal arteritis, 1 interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and 1 a neurological tumor. All had received steroid treatment for periods varying from several days to 16 months, at varying doses, although the majority of them were treated with 1mg/kg/day. All presented clinical profiles suggestive of pneumonia (5 community acquired and 2 nosocomial). Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis can appear in minimally immunocompromised patients, such as those undergoing steroid treatment and must be suspected whenever pneumonia is seen in patients receiving steroids who do not improve with widespectrum antibiotic treatment.
 ...
PMID:[Steroid treatment: risk factor for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis]. 961 41

Infections due to Aspergillus species cause significant morbidity and mortality. Most are attributed to Aspergillus fumigatus, followed by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus terreus. Aspergillus niger is a mould that is rarely reported as a cause of pneumonia. A 72-year-old female with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and temporal arteritis being treated with steroids long term presented with haemoptysis and pleuritic chest pain. Chest radiography revealed areas of heterogeneous consolidation with cavitation in the right upper lobe of the lung. Induced bacterial sputum cultures, and acid-fast smears and cultures were negative. Fungal sputum cultures grew A. niger. The patient clinically improved on a combination therapy of empiric antibacterials and voriconazole, followed by voriconazole monotherapy. After 4 weeks of voriconazole therapy, however, repeat chest computed tomography scanning showed a significant progression of the infection and near-complete necrosis of the right upper lobe of the lung. Serum voriconazole levels were low-normal (1.0 microg ml(-1), normal range for the assay 0.5-6.0 microg ml(-1)). A. niger was again recovered from bronchoalveolar lavage specimens. A right upper lobectomy was performed, and lung tissue cultures grew A. niger. Furthermore, the lung histopathology showed acute and organizing pneumonia, fungal hyphae and oxalate crystallosis, confirming the diagnosis of invasive A. niger infection. A. niger, unlike A. fumigatus and A. flavus, is less commonly considered a cause of invasive aspergillosis (IA). The finding of calcium oxalate crystals in histopathology specimens is classic for A. niger infection and can be helpful in making a diagnosis even in the absence of conidia. Therapeutic drug monitoring may be useful in optimizing the treatment of IA given the wide variations in the oral bioavailability of voriconazole.
 ...
PMID:Aspergillus niger: an unusual cause of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. 2029 3

Glucocorticoids are often required for adequate control of inflammation in many serious inflammatory diseases; common indications for long-term treatment include polymyalgia rheumatica, giant cell arteritis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Long-term glucocorticoid therapy is, however, associated with many adverse effects involving skin, gastro-intestinal, eye, skeletal muscle, bone, adrenal, cardio-metabolic and neuropsychiatric systems. This balance between benefits and risks of glucocorticoids is important for clinical practice and glucocorticoid-related adverse effects can significantly impair health-related quality of life. Understanding the nature and mechanisms of glucocorticoid-related adverse effects may inform how patients are monitored for toxicity and identify those groups, such as older people, that may need closer monitoring. For clinical trials in diseases commonly treated with glucocorticoids, standardised measurement of glucocorticoid-related adverse effects would facilitate future evidence synthesis and meta-analysis.
...
PMID:The prediction and monitoring of toxicity associated with long-term systemic glucocorticoid therapy. 2590 65

The combination of alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, ANCA-vasculitis, and aortic aneurysm has been rarely described in literature. We report an eventually fatal case in a 70-year-old patient who initially presented with giant cell arteritis and ANCA associated glomerulonephritis. Several years later, he presented with aortic dissection due to large vessel vasculitis, raising the suspicion of AAT deficiency, as two first-line relatives had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, while they never smoked. This diagnosis was confirmed by AAT electrophoresis and immunohistochemistry on a temporal artery biopsy. Considering AAT deficiency in these cases might lead to a more timely diagnosis.
 ...
PMID:Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Presenting with MPO-ANCA Associated Vasculitis and Aortic Dissection. 2836 19