Temporal artery biopsy

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Temporal artery biopsy

If you have the symptoms of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and your doctor believes you may have it, he or she may order a temporal artery biopsy to make sure.

Giant cell arteritis can occur at various points along an artery . To test for giant cell arteritis, your doctor may have a surgeon take a sample of a blood vessel on your temple and test it for inflammation.

If a temporal artery biopsy shows no signs of inflammation but your symptoms strongly suggest giant cell arteritis, your doctor may:

Order another biopsy on the other side of your head.
Proceed with treatment without further biopsy testing.

If you are taking high-dose corticosteroids, the biopsy result may not be accurate. In this case, any biopsy testing must be performed as soon as possible, preferably within 2 to 5 days. Biopsies done more than 7 days after the start of high-dose corticosteroids may be falsely normal (false-negative).

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Author	Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH
Editor	Kathe Gallagher, MSW
Associate Editor	Pat Truman, MATC
Primary Medical Reviewer	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer	Stanford M. Shoor, MD - Rheumatology
Last Updated	May 8, 2007

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Last updated:	May 08, 2007
Author:	Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH
Reviewed By:	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine, Stanford M. Shoor, MD - Rheumatology
Editors:	Kathe Gallagher, MSW, Pat Truman, MATC

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