Aortic and pulmonary trunk involvement in giant-cell arteritis

Abstract

Giant cell arteritis is systemic vasculitis of large arteries. The most common manifestations are headache and visual symptoms due to involvement of main artery branches: carotid, vertebral or temporal artery. Approximately 40% of all patients present atypical symptoms due to involvement of aorta itself. We report the case of woman with aorta and pulmonary trunk involvement. 67 years old woman was hospitalized due to dyspnoea and chest pain. Pulmonary artery embolisation was excluded. Computed tomography confirmed pulmonary trunk wall thickening (10 mm) and thoracic aorta wall thickening (12mm). This is the report of computed tomography documented reduction in the thickness of the walls of both aorta and pulmonary trunk following steroid therapy.