著者

村岡 渡 井川 雅子 今井 昇 池内 忍 朝波 惣一郎 中川 種昭

出版者

Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

雑誌

日本口腔外科学会雑誌 (ISSN:00215163)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.10, pp.585-588, 2004-10-20 (Released:2011-04-22)

参考文献数

19

被引用文献数

1 2

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Temporal arteritis, also referred to as giant cell arteritis, is a rare disease in Japan. The epidemiological investigation performed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan in 1998 reported that temporal arteritis occurred at a frequency of 0.65 cases per 100, 000 population. The first symptoms, according to this report, were headache, usually in the temporal region, accompanied by fever, weight loss, and visual disturbance.A 78-year-old woman with temporal arteritis who had a chief complaint of jaw claudication is reported. Her symptoms at first consultation were bilateral temporal tenderness, funicular swelling of the superficial temporal artery, and an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Because temporal arteritis was suspected, the patient was referred to a neurologist. After admission to the department of neurology, the right temporal artery showed an embolus on digital subtraction angiography and the left temporal artery showed constriction; a biopsy of the right temporal artery was therefore performed by an otolaryngologist. Histopathological examination showed a granulomatous inflammatory lesion with mononuclear cell infiltration associated with Langhans' type giant cells, involving mainly the tunica intima. By the early diagnosis of temporal arteritis and immediate steroid administration, these symptoms markedly improved within 48 hours, and no signs or symptoms have been observed subsequently.