Aortic Aneurysms Caused By GCA

I was diagnosed in June 2024 when I went to the hospital emergency room for vision problems. While I was at the hospital they did a lot of tests on me. The tests included an MRI of my head, EKG, EEG, and ultrasound of my heart and aorta. So those tests confirmed that everything was ok at that time, except for the arteries in and outside my head affected by the GCA. Several months later I asked my rheumatologist if they would monitor my aorta, and she said a cardiologist would do that if I ever had any symptoms suggesting problems.

I get it. The head symptoms not easy to miss. I am going to get Cardiologist to talk about aorta. I have had it checked by ultrasound before the GCA occurred. I want it done again now.

Hello @jeff97 and welcome to the GCA/PMR blog.

For some background informaiont about aortic aneurysms. The general population develop aortic aneurysms at the rate of 1.8%. Studies show that GCA/PMR patients develop aortic aneurysms at the rate of 3.6% over a 5 year period. That means that over a 5 year period 2 additional perple will develop an aortic aneurysm over the general population. Just some background info for your thought. It not really a heavy hitter.

It sounds like you are also blessed by catching the GCA before major vision problems began. Good Luck in the future with GCA.

A recent CT scan after an emergency admission to hospital was able to pick up potential inflammation in and around the aorta. That lead to a PET scan two weeks later that cleared me of any GCA / LVV issues with the aorta. So it seems that both a CT or PET scan will pick up issues from GCA in the aorta. I'm in Australia and it was very much the responsibility of the rheumatologist to request the PET scan. As I had been under general practitioner care only for the last 2 years, for PMR, I had to get a referral specifically to a rheumatologist to get the PET done.

Thanks for the good wishes and for the information about aortic aneurysms.