Purpose : Temporal arteritis (TA) involves granulomatous inflammation with giant cells in arteries of the external carotid system. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are important to avoid irreversible neurological damage. We examined the temporal arteries in patients with TA using ultrasonography and evaluated the clinical usefulness of this modality for diagnosis of TA.
Subject : The subjects comprised six patients (one man. five women) diagnosed as having TA according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology. The patients were studied periodically using ultrasonography after steroid treatment.
Results : The long-axis view of the temporal artery showed narrowing of blood vessel diameter. hyperplasia of intima-media thickness (IMT), segmetital dilatation, or intravascular occlusion. Short-axis imaging revealed a hypoechoic halo around the temporal artery in all cases. Serial observations of the temporal artery showed disappearance of the hypoechoic halo after two or three months of steroid therapy in all cases. After six months. four patients showed normal results of temporal artery ultrasonography.
Discussion and Conclusion : A hypoechoic halo around the temporal artery on ultrasonography represents a characteristic finding of TA. Ultrasonography is a useful. non-invasive tool for diagnosis of TA and evaluating the efficacy of treatment.
