Active clinical trials for "Giant Cell Arteritis"

The goal of this observational study is to expand the knowledge about development and aggreviation of diabetes mellitus in patients with giant cell arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica. The main questions it aims to answer are: To identify the risk of comorbidities, especially diabetes, in patients with giant cell arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica, treated with glucocorticoids in combination with or without interleukin-6 inhibitor. To identify clinical outcomes and biomarkers as potential predictors for development or aggregation of already existing diabetes mellitus in patients with giant cell arthritis or polymyalgia rheumatica using machine learning prediction. Participants will be followed at their respective rheumatology clinic, and will be asked to deliver blood samples at predefined visits.

It is hypothesized that chewing-gums may be a useful test to unmask jaws intermittent claudication in order to enhance the diagnosis of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA).

To date, there is no available tool that allows, at individual level, determination of the probability to develop clinically relevant complications of prolonged glucocorticoid therapy. In patients with inflammatory rheumatic disorders requiring prolonged glucocorticoid therapy, such tool could be useful to adapt first-line treatment decisions (in daily practice and in future clinical trials). The main objective of the study is to identify routine clinical, biological and DXA baseline characteristics predictive of the occurrence of clinically relevant complications of glucocorticoid therapy at 1 year, in order to propose a predictive score.

To facilitate clinical, basic science, and translational research projects involving the study of rheumatic diseases.

The purpose of this study is to collect existing tissue specimens from subjects enrolled in Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC) studies. Analysis of these tissue specimens and linked clinical data collected through VCRC studies may lead to the identification and development of a series of translational research projects. Results of these studies will provide vasculitis researchers with insight into the causes of these diseases and generate new ideas for diagnostic tests and therapies, and will be of great interest to the larger communities of researchers investigating vasculitis and other autoimmune, inflammatory, and vascular diseases.

To demonstrate that microparticles (MPs), having a powerful procoagulant potential, are in larger amounts in the blood of patients with histologically proven giant cell arteritis (GCA), compared with patients matched for age, sex and with or without inflammatory syndrome.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a systemic inflammatory disease that affects elderly people. It is characterized by pain and morning stiffness in the shoulders, pelvic girdles and neck. Glucocorticoids are the mainstay of the treatment. In clinical practice, the disease activity of PMR and corresponding treatment changes are based on the presence of symptoms and inflammatory markers. The interpretation of these abnormalities can be surprisingly difficult, especially when they are not consistent. In 2004, Leeb and Bird developed a composite score for measurement of disease activity in PMR, called the polymyalgia rheumatica activity score. It consists of 5 domains: morning stiffness time, ability to elevate the upper limbs, physician's global assessment, pain and CRP level. However, high-quality evidence on the measurement properties is lacking and there is still no consensus on the optimal cut off point. Based on a Delphi study with physicians and patients OMERACT defines laboratory markers of systemic inflammation, pain, stiffness and physical function as the four inner core of domains considered mandatory for clinical trials of PMR, most frequently measured by erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and/or C-reactive protein (CRP), visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, morning stiffness time and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) respectively. Patient's global fatigue was strongly recommended to measure in PMR as well. Recently, a PMR-specific patient-reported outcome measure was developed, called the PMR impact scale. However, outcome measures in PMR studies lack consistency and there is no high-quality evidence on the measurement properties. In addition, the evolution of these patient reported outcomes is not known.

Giant cell arteritis - Optimization of diagnostics

Longitudinal imaging in patients with large vessel vasculitis to predict further disease course

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) causes inflammation of the arteries and can lead to serious complications such as blindness, necessitating rapid diagnosis and treatment. Although older technology non-digital PET/CT scans are routinely used for the diagnosis of GCA in large arteries, they have not been able to reliably detect inflammation of the small arteries responsible for blindness. Recent technological advances have enabled PET/CT imaging of millimetric disease in the body, and Quebec has been one of the first to deploy these new digital PET/CT scanners, which are now able to resolve small arteries. In the proposed research study, patients who are suspected by their doctors to have GCA will undergo temporal artery biopsy (the standard of care), an ultrasound of the temporal arteries, and digital PET/CT scan after injection of radioactive glucose. Digital PET/CT scans will be interpreted for the presence of abnormal uptake in the large and small arteries, as well as for the presence of other causes of the patient's symptoms. The diagnostic accuracy of PET/CT and ultrasound will be evaluated with respect to an expert panel diagnosis of giant cell arteritis and compared. Results will be adjusted for lack of a perfect reference test using advanced statistics. The goal will be to see if digital PET/CT can become a single, integrated test to diagnose this disease.