Combined medical,surgical and endovascular treatment of a giant cell arteritis case manifesting as upper limbs acute ischemia |
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| Authors: | Stefano de Franciscis Giuseppe Roscitano Raffaele Serra Gianluca Buffone Attilio Cotroneo Andrea de Franciscis Diego Mastrangelo Francesco Spinelli |
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| Affiliation: | aDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Unit of Vascular Surgery, Viale Europa 88100 Catanzaro, Italy;bDepartment of Vascular Surgery, Sant’Anna Hospital, Via Pio X, Catanzaro, Italy;cDepartment of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Messina, Messina, Italy |
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| Abstract: | We report a case of giant cell arteritis manifesting as upper limbs ischemia due to a complete occlusion of the left subclavian artery and a high grade stenosis of the right subclavian artery. We decided to use a combined medical, surgical and endovascular treatment followed by long term treatment with methotrexate. After 4 years the patient had no signs or symptoms of relapse. In our personal experience long term treatment with Methotrexate demonstrated a certain efficacy in avoiding relapse of the inflammatory phase and in maintaining stability of results in this kind of disease. |
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| Keywords: | Giant cell arteritis, Acute ischemia, Endovascular and surgical treatment Methotrexate, Cyclophosphamide, Prednisone |
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