COLOR DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY - A NEW METHOD T O DIAGNOSE TEMPORAL ARTERITIS

Background Recently increasing attention has been paid to temporal art eritis which is not a very rare disease. Early establishment of the di agnosis and start of therapy can reduce serious visual complications. Patients and methods The temporal arteries of 10 patients with tempora l arteritis, 8 patients with polymyalgia rheumatica, and 23 controls w ere investigated with a high resolution ultrasound system, measuring s ize of lumen and wall as well as blood now velocity. Results Colour do ppler sonography of the superficial temporal artery showed a character istic hypoechoic halo around the perfused lumen of an often stenosed o r occluded artery. Neither patients with polymyalgia rheumatica nor co ntrols had this hypoechoic halo. The halo disappeared 10-14 days after start of therapy with glucocorticoids. Conclusions We think that colo ur doppler sonography of the temporal arteries is a simple, quick, and non-invasive method to diagnose temporal arteritis. When there will b e more experience, sensitivity and specifity of the method can be defi ned. Perhaps sonography might replace biopsy in some cases in the futu re.