Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a kind of systemic vasculitis that frequently co-occurs with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in the elderly. Pericardial illness is a rare symptom of chronic inflammatory diseases that has only been documented in case reports and limited observational studies. However, no significant investigation into the demographics and clinical history of GCA or PMR patients with concurrent pericardial characteristics has been conducted. As a result, there is a scarcity of medical data to aid clinicians when examining such patients. Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the medical literature to describe the epidemiological and clinicopathological features of this unusual relationship. To identify all instances of GCA and PMR with pericardial involvement, researchers did a thorough search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Ovid, Google Scholar, and grey literature. The final cohort’s demographics, clinical characteristics, and results were examined and assessed. The study included 52 clinical cases. There were 44 GCA patients and 8 PMR patients among them. The average age at presentation was 69.5 years, with only 46% of patients above the age of 70. Although a large number of the patients were symptomatic, only 40% had typical cranial symptoms. Overall, the result was favourable, even in the presence of large-vessel disease, which is often associated with a bad prognosis in classic GCA. Patients with PMR were more likely to develop cardiac tamponade, whereas those with GCA were more likely to develop large-vessel vasculitis, according to group analysis.
This study shows that patients with pericardial involvement have a clinical presentation of GCA that is distinct from cranial or large-vessel variants. These individuals have a better prognosis, most likely because they are younger and have more obvious symptoms, leading to an earlier diagnosis.
