Polymyalgia rheumatica

General: Affects older patients; usually Caucasian women; relationsh 717f59h ip between polymyalgia and temporal arteritis remains uncertain; in polymyalgia rheumatic a alone there is no arteritis per se, and this syndrome is not associated with blindness or other neurologic or cardiovascular sequelae; many patients with temporal arteritis have polymyalgia rheumatic a as part of their symptoms or as the presenting symptom.

Ocular: Amaurosis fugax; acute unilateral or bilateral visual loss; ischemic optic neuritis; optic atrophy; papilledema; retinal hemorrhages; cotton-wool spots; central retinal artery occlusion; palsy of extraocular muscles.

Clinical: Pain and stiffness in the neck, shoulders, and hips; rapid erythrocyte sedimentation rate; prompt response to corticosteroids; weakness.

Bengtsson BA, Malmvall BE. The epidemiology of giant cell arteritis including temporal arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: incidences of different Clinical presentations and eye complications. Arthritis Rheum 1981; 24: 899-904.

Chuang T, et al. Polymyalgia rheumatica. A l0-year epidemiological and Clinical study. Ann Intern Med 1982; 97:672.

Cohen MD, Ginsburg WW. Polymyalgia rheumatica. Rheum Dis Clin North Am 1990; 16:325.

Duane TD. Clinical Ophthalmology. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1987.

Hart FD. Visual complications of polymyalgia rheumatic a (polymyalgia arteritica). Practitioner 1975; 215:763-766.

Jacobs DS, Foster SC. Temporal arteritis. In: Albert DM, Jakobiec FA, eds. Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology, vol. V. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1994.

Jones JG, Hazleman BL. Prognosis and management of polymyalgia rheumatica. Ann Rheum Dis 1981; 40:1-5.

Parsons C. Sudden blindness in polymyalgia arteritica. Br Med J 1977; 1:1536-l537.