Healio Rheuminations

The history of giant cell arteritis: Infections, injections and the man who couldn't wear a hat

November 25, 2025·42 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

What does a goiter and syphilis have in common with the first descriptions of giant cell arteritis? Join us as we dive into the history of the most common type of vasculitis! Intro 0:13 GCA at ACR 2025 00:30 How Brown has approached framing this episode 1:01 A primer leading us to GCA 3:15 Let's get to the story 4:02 The man who couldn't wear a hat 4:57 Dr. Bayard Horton's 7:40 A tangent on cluster headaches 8:27 Let's get back to GCA 13:16 The first temporal artery biopsy 14:28 Vision loss and other puzzle pieces of GCA 16:27 What about jaw claudication? 21:15 Could GCA be transmissible? Injecting ground temporal arteries into healthy volunteers 24:13 Oxygen? Histamines? Adrenal cortical extract? Looking for GCA treatments 26:55 Steroids and GCA 28:40 A quote from the 1959 Mayo Clinic Board of Governors 32:24 Extracranial involvement in GCA 33:24 When did we recognize aorta involvement? Syphilis enters the picture 35:08 A recap of the history of GCA 41:25 Thanks for listening 42:19 We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Brown at rheuminationspodcast@healio.com. Follow us on Twitter @HRheuminations @AdamJBrownMD @HealioRheum. References: Boes CJ, Cephalalgia. 2007;doi:10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01238.x Cummer CL, et al. JAMA. 1912;doi:10.1001/jama.1912.04270080101004 Horton BT, Proc Cent SOC Clin Res. 1946 Sproul EE, et al. Am J Pathol. 1937;PMID: 19970328 Disclosures: Brown reports no relevant financial disclosures.

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