Association between the patterns of large-vessel lesions and treatment outcomes in patients with large-vessel giant cell arteritis

Abstract

Objective We aimed to identify associations between patterns of large-vessel lesions of large-vessel giant cell arteritis (LV-GCA) and treatment outcomes. Methods We extracted data on 68 newly-diagnosed patients with LV-GCA from a retrospective, multi-centric, nationwide registry of GCA patients treated with glucocorticoids between 2007 and 2014. Patients with aortic lesions were identified based on findings from contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging, or positron emission tomography-CT (group 2, n=49). Patients without aortic lesions were subdivided into LV-GCA with or without subclavian lesions defined as group 1 (n=9) or group 3 (n=10), respectively. Primary outcome evaluation was failure to achieve clinical remission by week 24 and/or relapse within 104 weeks. Results The mean age and proportion of patients with cranial lesions and polymyalgia rheumatica in group 2 was numerically lower than in the other two groups. Large-vessel lesions in group 3 included carotid, pulmonary, renal, hepatic or mesenteric lesions. The cumulative rate of poor treatment outcomes over two years was 11.1%, 55.3%, and 88.0% in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively (by Kaplan-Meier analysis). The mean time to poor outcome was significantly different between the groups. Conclusions Classification by subclavian and aortic lesions may be useful to determine treatment strategy.