ABDOMINAL AORTITIS IN POLYMYALGIA RHEUMATICA - COURSE OF THE DISEASE DOCUMENTED BY COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY AND MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

In a 59-year-old woman, after four years of ambiguous and unidentified course of her disease (feeling of weakness, inappetence, weight loss, pain in the shoulder girdle, subfebrile temperatures, increased BSR), polymyalgia rheumatica was eventually diagnosed. The findings at the abdominal aorta were particularly marked: sonography revealed a 10 mm wide echo-poor fringe around the aorta which in the computed tomogram became slightly more echogenic after injection of contrast medium. In the magnetic resonance tomogram (MR) the aortic wall was homogeneously thickened and well-defined against the retroperitoneal tissue. Subseq uent to the diagnosis a therapy with glucocorticoids was initiated and strictly continued for by now 18 months. This resulted in long-term c linical remission. CT and MR proved highly suitable for long-term moni toring (> 5 years).