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

Spinal cord involvement is uncommon in giant cell arteritis (GCA) and spinal cord infarction is extremely rare. We describe an 80-year-old man with active GCA who developed sudden paraplegia and dissociated sensory loss while receiving steroid treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging showed high signal abnormality consistent with spinal cord infarction in the anterior spinal artery territory at the level of D10. The case illustrates the elusive nature of GCA and the diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas faced by the physician caring for these patients.
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PMID:Giant cell arteritis complicated by spinal cord infarction: a therapeutic dilemma. 1213 20

Hypereosinophilic syndrome is a rare disorder of the hematopoietic system. The disease is characterized by continuously high number of eosinophils (>1.5 x 10(9)/L) for more than six months. Other possible causes of hypereosinophilia, such as allergic and parasitic diseases, malignant disease, Churg-Strauss disease and infection should be eliminated. The most common manifestations of hypereosinophilic syndrome are pulmonary, skin, gastrointestinal, cardiac difficulties and neurologic lesions. Numerous neurologic lesions have been described, in particular of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Review of the literature revealed the following to have been recorded so far: mononeuritis multiplex, sensory polyneuropathy, radiculopathy, myalgia, myositis and perimyositis, neuropathy, ataxia, paraplegia, ophthalmologic abnormalities, optic neuritis, hemiplegia-hemiparesis, spasmodic quadriplegia, seizures, meningitis, cerebral infarction, organic psychosyndrome, other mental changes, stroke, temporal arteritis, leptomeningeal dissemination, memory deficits and dysarthria.
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PMID:Neurologic manifestations of hypereosinophilic syndrome--review of the literature. 2292 4

Spinal cord infarction is extremely rare in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA). There are only four case reports in the literature. We describe a 65-year-old man who presented with sudden paraplegia and back pain of 4-days duration with sensory loss below the umbilicus and bilateral scalp necrosis. Magnetic resonance imaging finding was consistent with dorsal spinal cord infarction. Biopsy of the temporal artery confirmed the diagnosis of GCA. The patient was treated with high dose of corticosteroids, which resulted in healing of the scalp ulcerations in 3 weeks, but the paraplegia was irreversible. To our knowledge, this is the first report of spinal cord infarction and simultaneous occurrence of bilateral scalp necrosis in a histopathologically proven GCA. Although literature about spinal cord involvement in GCA is very limited, cord infarction is associated with high mortality and therapeutic challenges since little is understood regarding the pathogenesis that leads to infarction.
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PMID:Spinal cord infarction in giant cell arteritis associated with scalp necrosis. 2503 98