Giant-cell Arteritis of the Ovarian Arteries: A Rare Manifestation of a Common Disease

Authors

• Prisca Theunissen Department of Internal Medicine, Ikazia Ziekenhuis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Mike Kliffen Department of Clinical Pathology, Maasstad Ziekenhuis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Ad Dees Department of Internal Medicine, Ikazia Ziekenhuis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

priscatheunissen@gmail.com

Keywords

Abstract

We describe a 58-year-old woman presenting with headache and an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), who was diagnosed with and successfully treated for giant-cell arteritis (GCA). Seven months after the end of treatment, ovarian GCA was incidentally found after ovariectomy for a simple cyst. GCA of extracranial vessels like the ovarian arteries is rare. Nevertheless, we stress that extracranial GCA should be considered in patients older than 50 years with an elevated ESR, even if a temporal artery biopsy is negative or specific symptoms are absent. Moreover, we discuss the importance of imaging techniques when GCA of the extracranial large vessels is suspected.