Vision Loss Is Preventable in Giant Cell Arteritis

She was treated with IV methylprednisolone for 3 days, with vision improvement in the left eye and a fall in CRP to 2 mg/L, but when she was switched to oral prednisone the left-sided vision again deteriorated. Her vision is currently 20/200 in the left eye, and she cannot perceive light in her right.

“This case illustrates the importance of recognizing jaw claudication as a predictor of vision loss in GCA. This patient had none of the other well-recognized features of GCA, and only a modest rise in her inflammatory markers. We suspect that if she had described headache, the diagnosis would have been recognized when she initially presented, and steroid therapy would have been instituted in time to save her vision,” Dr. Borg wrote.