Simultaneous Pleural and Pericardial Effusion as First Clinical Manifestations of Giant Cell Arteritis: A Case Report

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a chronic granulomatous vasculitis of unknown aetiology occurring in the older patients and affecting mostly the cranial branches of the arteries originating from the aortic arch. GCA is associated with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Clinical features of the disorder include headache, scalp tenderness, jaw claudication, temporal artery abnormalities on physical examination, vision changes, and symptoms associated to PMR. Systemic manifestations include fever, anorexia and weight loss while less rare manifestations are related to the nervous system, the respiratory system, the pericardium and extra-cranial large vessels. Here we report a rare case of simultaneous pleural and pericardial effusion as the first manifestations of GCA. The diagnosis was made with a temporal artery biopsy. Such a diagnosis should, therefore, be considered in older patients presenting with pleuropericardial manifestations, even in the absence of typical clinical features.