Giant cell arteritis in a patient with fever of unknown origin

Abstract

Fever of unknown (FUO) origin challenging clinical condition. The causes of FUO are diverse: possible etiologies include infectious diseases, chronic granulomatous diseases, malignity, connective tissue disorders and vasculitis. Giant cell arteritis which affects the aorta and its main branches, contributes up to 17% of cases with fever of unknown origin above age 50. There is increasing evidence for a role for18F-FDG PET/CT in the diagnosis of vasculitis and18F-FDG PET/CT is a useful technic for evaluation of the FUO. Clinical studies show that FDG-PET is a useful diagnostic aid in obscure cases of fever of unknown origin. We report here a case of a 54-year-old woman who present to our clinic with FUO due to giant cell vasculitis.