Active clinical trials for "Giant Cell Arteritis"

Evaluation of the structural features of temporal arteritis using two frequencies probes: 18 and 22Mhz.

The use of ultrasonography in detecting giant cell arteritis ( GCA) is emerging. Currently, temporal biopsy is the gold standard to diagnose GCA but studies have shown the interest to use B mode ultrasonography. However, until now, the study of velocities in GCA have not been yet performed.

The purpose of this study is to learn about reproductive health, including fertility and pregnancies, in people with vasculitis.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an inflammatory disease causing new, unaccustomed headache in the elderly and which can lead to blindness in 20-30% of untreated cases. The study group have previously shown that ultrasound is a viable non-invasive alternative to temporal artery biopsy in diagnosing GCA. However, there is significant variation in ultrasound assessment (measuring a dark "halo" around the abnormal blood vessels) between sonographers in different centres, requiring a labour intensive and time consuming training programme. The study group propose to standardise the training programme, and use ultrasound and clinical evaluation to define changes occurring over time and with treatment in patients with a diagnosis of GCA made based on ultrasound changes alone. The study group will explore the use of algorithms to automate or semi-automate image interpretation.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a potentially fatal disease that represents a great global public health concern. In European countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, England and France, the pandemic has been of utmost importance. To date, no treatment has been robustly validated, and two theoretically opposite therapeutic strategies are proposed, based either on antiretroviral therapy or on immunomodulating agents. In this complex context, people living with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) raise specific concerns due to their potentially increased risk of infections or of severe infections. Among IMID, Sjögren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and giant cell arteritis are some key diseases. In this cross-sectional, observational, multi-centric study, the investigators aim to assess both clinical and serological prevalence of COVID-19 among samples of IMID patients in Europe. In parallel, the investigators aim to compare the prevalence of COVID-19 seroconversion across these five IMIDs, their penetration across different 6 European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and Portugal), and to assess the severity of COVID-19 in these patients. Moreover, changes in treatment will be assessed, including immunomodulatory tapering or discontinuation, its causes over the outbreak period, as well as the incidence of IMID flares and their severity over this same period. Finally, patient's perceptions towards the pandemic will be evaluated and compared to medication beliefs. Data will be collected through questionnaires during medical visit or phone consultation and serological tests will be performed within routine blood collection. As so, all study procedures are comprised within usual care. Through this study the investigators expect to have a better knowledge of the clinical and serological prevalence of COVID-19 in IMID across Europe, along with the psychological, clinical, and therapeutic impact of COVID-19 in this particular patient population.

The containment associated with the VIDOC-19 pandemic creates an unprecedented societal situation of physical and social isolation. Our hypothesis is that in patients with chronic diseases, confinement leads to changes in health behaviours, adherence to pharmacological treatment, lifestyle rules and increased psychosocial stress with an increased risk of deterioration in their health status in the short, medium and long term. Some messages about the additional risk/danger associated with taking certain drugs in the event of COVID disease have been widely disseminated in the media since March 17, 2020, the date on which containment began in France. This is the case, for example, for corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs but also for converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) and angiotensin II receptor antagonists (ARBs2). These four major classes of drugs are widely prescribed in patients with chronic diseases, diseases specifically selected in our study (corticosteroids: haematological malignancies, multiple sclerosis, Horton's disease; ACE inhibitors/ARAs2: heart failure, chronic coronary artery disease). Aspirin used at low doses as an anti-platelet agent in coronary patients as a secondary prophylaxis after a myocardial infarction can be stopped by some patients who consider aspirin to be a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Discontinuation of this antiplatelet agent, which must be taken for life after an infarction, exposes the patient to a major risk of a new cardiovascular event. The current difficulty of access to care due to travel restrictions (a theoretical limit in the context of French confinement but a priori very real), the impossibility of consulting overloaded doctors, or the cancellation of medical appointments, medical and surgical procedures due to the reorganization of our hospital and private health system to better manage COVID-19 patients also increases the risk of worsening the health status of chronic patients who by definition require regular medical monitoring. Eight Burgundian cohorts of patients with chronic diseases (chronic coronary artery disease, heart failure, multiple sclerosis, Horton's disease, AMD, haemopathic malignancy, chronic respiratory failure (idiopathic fibrosis, PAH) haemophilia cohort) will study the health impact of the containment related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research hypothesis is that T lymphocytes CD8 play a role in the physiopathology of Horton's disease. At the inclusion visit, patients will have, as is the case in the usual strategy: A complete clinical examination carried out by the doctor in charge of the patient ESR, and CRP and fibrinogen assay A full blood count for leukocytes and lymphocytes A biopsy of the temporal artery (TAB) to screen for signs of vascularitis, suggesting Horton's disease. The clinician in charge of the patient will decide if a second biopsy is necessary. The biopsy will be sent to and analysed at Anatomy and Pathological cytology service. Immunohistochemical analyses will be done if the TAB is positive. In addition to the standard clinical examination and complementary examinations relative to the patients' pathology, the following will be done: Lymphocyte immunophenotyping for the quantity of T CD4 (cluster of differentiation 4) and CD8 lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and natural killer lymphocytes. This will make it possible to calculate the absolute value for different T lymphocyte populations. A blood sample drawn into a dry 5 mL tube (large yellow) to isolate the serum, which will be stored at -80°C for future assays for cytokines and other biomarkers of interest for Horton's disease. 16 blood samples drawn into 6 mL heparinized tubes (large green). These will be used immediately for cytometric and functional analyses.

Vasculitis is group of diseases where inflammation of blood vessels is the common feature. Patients typically present with fever, fatigue, weakness and muscle and joint aches. These symptoms are very common among many different diseases, not just vasculitis. A clustering of other symptoms, physical examination findings, blood tests, radiology and biopsy help make the diagnosis. There are currently no criteria to help doctors make a diagnosis of vasculitis when a patient presents with these non specific symptoms and they are reliant on previous experience and disease definitions. One of the aims of this project is to develop diagnostic criteria for the primary systemic vasculitides (granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's), microscopic polyangiitis, Churg Strauss syndrome, polyarteritis nodosa, giant cell arteritis, Takayasu arteritis). We, the investigators, will do this by studying a large group of patients with vasculitis and comparing them to a large group of patients that present in a similar way, but do not have vasculitis. By comparing the 2 groups we will create a list of items to differentiate between vasculitis and 'vasculitis mimics'. We also aim to update the current classification criteria. Classification criteria are used to group patients into different types of vasculitis, once a diagnosis of vasculitis has been made, and are useful for studying patients in clinical trials with similar or identical diseases. The current classification criteria (American college of Rheumatology 1990 criteria) were developed 20 years ago, before the availability of some important diagnostic tests (e.g. antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies [ANCA]), and are now not consistent with some of the current disease definitions. Therefore to progress future research in vasculitis, it is important that the classification criteria are updated. We will recruit 260 patients with each of the 6 types of vasculitis and compare them with 1300 controls (patients with the 5 other types of vasculitis), in order to determine the optimal combination of symptoms, signs and investigations that classify each person into the appropriate group.

The purpose of this study is to delineate the association of the 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) detected vasculitis pattern of the large vessels (PET positivity) and the clinical picture of Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)/Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) .

Despite a large and growing body of knowledge concerning the diagnosis of temporal arteritis, this potentially crippling disease still requires pathological diagnosis in practically every case. It seems likely that a correctly estimated clinical probability could help in evaluating imaging results in a way that might safely obviate temporal biopsy in a large segment of suspect cases. With this aim in view, we intend to identify useful clinical items and integrate them in an appropriate diagnostic pathway.