Giant-Cell Arteritis — An Acute Hand Syndrome

¹ Corner Broad and Englewood, Durham, North Carolina
² Watts Hospital, Durham, North Carolina

Giant-cell arteritis is essentially an inflammatory condition often resulting in partial or complete vascular occlusion which is capable of resolution. The disease may occur as an acute of chronic focal process or as a widespread systemic disease. Temporal artery involvement has been described more commonly; extremity lesions heretofore have usually been described only at necropsy. This report presents three cases of an acute, painful process involving the radial, ulnar, and median arteries. A preoperative diagnosis of giant-cell arteritis was made in the last of the three cases described. These three cases are presented to draw attention to this acutely painful hand syndrome, which undoubtedly is widely seen and seldom recognized. Resection of the portion of the artery involved, when possible, had given relief where other measures have failed.

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