Berglind Árnadóttir¹

Gerður Gröndal^2,3

Þórður Tryggvason⁴

Björn Guðbjörnsson^3,5

 

¹Department of Internal Medicine, ²Department of Rheumatology, ³Laboatory of Rheumatology, ⁴Department of Pathology, Landspítali University Hospital, ⁵Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.

Correspondence: Berglind Árnadóttir, bergliar@landspitali.is

Key words: giant cell arteritis, ameurosis fugax, scalp necrosis, neuropathy

 

In the summer of 2020, an elderly woman in her eighties sought medical attention due to headache and visual disturbances. The diagnosis was unclear, she became blind on both eyes and developed extended scalp necrosis. Later it was clear that these symptoms were due to accelerating symptoms of giant cell arteritis (GCA). GCA is one of the most common disease form of vasculitis and can have various symptoms. In this report, we describe a case of an advanced disease course, discuss the main symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.