Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42421773›Full record

ArticleRheumatology advances in practice2026

Correlation of vascular enhancement on MRI and clinical manifestations in patients with GCA.

Nitin S Rai, Azin Khosavirad, Lawrence Mbuagbaw, Rennie L Rhee, Ryan Rebello, Nader Khalidi, Mats Junek

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Article in Rheumatology advances in practice, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Nitin S RaiDepartment of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9772-589X
Azin KhosaviradDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Lawrence MbuagbawDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Rennie L RheeDivision of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4907-0304
Ryan RebelloDepartment of Diagnostic Imaging, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4755-2235
Nader KhalidiDepartment of Anesthesia, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Mats JunekDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8416-3955

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objectives: GCA has diverse cranial manifestations, and cranial vessel MRI (cvMRI) can assess multiple arteries simultaneously. We aimed to determine whether vessel-specific enhancement on cvMRI correlates with clinical manifestations and diagnosis in GCA. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent cvMRI for suspected GCA at a single academic centre. We assessed associations between vessel wall enhancement on cvMRI and anatomically expected GCA symptoms. We used univariate and multivariable logistic regression adjusting for age, sex and glucocorticoid exposure to assess the relationship between vessel abnormalities and a diagnosis of GCA. Results: Among 439 patients, 153 (34.9%) were diagnosed with GCA. Median time (quartile 1 [Q1]-quartile 3 [Q3]) from glucocorticoid initiation to cvMRI was 11.5 days (Q1-Q3: 5.8-207.2). Maxillary and ophthalmic artery involvement were specific but insensitive for jaw claudication and vision loss, respectively (specificity 87.1%, 95% CI, 80.3-93.9 and 72.6%, 95% CI, 61.5-83.7; sensitivity 40.0%, 95% CI, 26.5-51.4 and 43.3%, 95% CI, 33.1-53.6, respectively). Headache showed no association with specific vessels. Any arterial enhancement was associated with GCA in univariate analysis, but only temporal artery involvement was predictive in multivariable analysis (odds ratio [OR] 5.20, 95% CI, 1.65-16.88), particularly when bilateral (OR 9.82, 95% CI, 2.82-38.32). Conclusion: Temporal artery enhancement remains the strongest imaging correlate for a diagnosis of GCA. Vessel-specific enhancement on cvMRI correlates with vision loss and jaw claudication but not headache. cvMRI may aid diagnosis in diagnostically uncertain cases, even after glucocorticoid initiation.

Indexed as

cranial vesselGCAMRItemporal artery

Identifiers

PMID42421773
PMCPMC13344854

What Socratic holds

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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.