User login
To the Editor: As a practicing internist, I found Dr. Alexandra Villa-Forte’s review of giant-cell arteritis (Cleve Clin J Med 2011; 78:265–270) both interesting and useful, as usual for the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. However, she did not mention the recommendation by some experts that patients who have had temporal arteritis should receive annual chest x-rays, for a decade or longer, to screen for the development of thoracic aortic aneurysm. Does she agree with this precaution? Is it advisable, in addition, to screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm by means of abdominal ultrasonography? If so, at what time intervals should this be done?
To the Editor: As a practicing internist, I found Dr. Alexandra Villa-Forte’s review of giant-cell arteritis (Cleve Clin J Med 2011; 78:265–270) both interesting and useful, as usual for the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. However, she did not mention the recommendation by some experts that patients who have had temporal arteritis should receive annual chest x-rays, for a decade or longer, to screen for the development of thoracic aortic aneurysm. Does she agree with this precaution? Is it advisable, in addition, to screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm by means of abdominal ultrasonography? If so, at what time intervals should this be done?
To the Editor: As a practicing internist, I found Dr. Alexandra Villa-Forte’s review of giant-cell arteritis (Cleve Clin J Med 2011; 78:265–270) both interesting and useful, as usual for the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. However, she did not mention the recommendation by some experts that patients who have had temporal arteritis should receive annual chest x-rays, for a decade or longer, to screen for the development of thoracic aortic aneurysm. Does she agree with this precaution? Is it advisable, in addition, to screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm by means of abdominal ultrasonography? If so, at what time intervals should this be done?