A very late presentation of polymyalgia rheumatica in a patient with giant cell arteritis: recurrence or casual association?

Abstract

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a primary large vessel vasculitis in which glucocorticoid (GC) therapy is the mainstay of treatment. During GC tapering, relapses may occur in about half of GCA patients, most of them occurring within the first two years of treatment. Recurrences beyond two years of GC withdrawal are extremely rare. We report a GCA patient with initial lower limb arterial involvement presenting with polymyalgia rheumatica after 34 years of being in remission with no treatment for GCA.

Keywords:

• Giant cell arteritis
• polymyalgia rheumatica
• relapse
• recurrence

Conflict of interest

None.

Additional information

Funding

This study has been supported by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (SAF 2014-57708-R and SAF 2017-88275-R).