SynthesisRheumatology (Oxford, England)2025
Intracranial GCA: a comprehensive systematic review.
Synthesis in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Treatment Patterns and Clinical Outcomes for Patients Living with Active Giant Cell Arteritis in Canada.Rheumatology and therapy · 2026Article
- Long-Term Follow-Up in Patients with Large-Vessel Vasculitis Applying Extracranial and Transcranial Duplex Sonography.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Correlation of vascular enhancement on MRI and clinical manifestations in patients with GCA.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2026Article
- A corona-like distribution and patchy pattern of cerebellar infarcts identify patients with giant cell arteritis.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2026Article
- Acute Ischemic Stroke in Non-Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesGCA is increasingly recognized to occur in intracranial vessels with unknown clinical ramifications. We identified all reported cases of intracranial GCA (ICGCA) in the literature to describe common presentations, investigations, treatments and outcomes.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review using MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), Embase and PubMed databases to identify studies that reported cases of ICGCA. The study was registered on a systematic review database (PROSPERO 42023412373). We defined intracranial involvement as any vessel cranial to the dura mater that was confirmed by either histopathology or imaging. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics.
resultsOf 1554 studies identified, 102 studies underwent full-text review. These studies included 340 patients with ICGCA. The median age was 73.7 (interquartile range [IQR] 71.9-77.3) and 46.9% patients were female. Presentations of ICGCA included stroke in 240 (70.6%) patients and isolated intracranial imaging or histologic changes in 67 (19.7%) patients. The most common vessels involved were 180 (52.9%) vertebrobasilar, 166 (48.8%) internal carotid and 49 (14.4%) ophthalmic arteries. Treatment was reported in 214 individuals. Glucocorticoids were administered to 210 (98.1%); tocilizumab, cyclophosphamide and methotrexate were the most common adjunctive medications. Of the 181 patients with reported follow-up outcomes, relapse occurred in 40 (22.1%) patients and 59 (32.6%) individuals died.
conclusionOur findings suggest that ICGCA is not a rare entity and may represent a more severe manifestation of GCA. Optimal therapy for ICGCA is unknown. Structured prospective evaluation is needed to better understand this manifestation of GCA.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.