Recurrence of temporal arteritis. Clinical recurrence nine years after initial illness.

TEMPORAL arteritis is thought to be a self-limited disease of several months' to several years' duration, tending to remit spontaneously or as a result of corticosteroid therapy. 1-4 Previous reports have noted relapses during corticosteroid withdrawal 2 1/2 years after initiation of therapy, and spontaneous reactivations two years after completion of therapy. 1,4,5 However, frequent relapses unrelated to corticosteroid withdrawal were also noted in one long-term study of patients with temporal arteritis, many of whom ultimately required several years of therapy. 5 Thus, smoldering subclinical disease and spontaneous reactivations long after initial recovery from the inflammatory process may be seen in temporal arteritis. In this regard, we describe a patient with a clinical recurrence of temporal arteritis nine years after the initial illness. Report of a Case An 83-year-old woman was seen in May 1979 with low-grade fever, extreme lassitude, malaise, 5-kg weight loss, and a new, constant, global headache