Observations placeholder
Horton's disease and visual hallucinations
Identifier
006146
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Giant-cell arteritis (GCA or temporal arteritis or cranial arteritis) or Horton disease is an inflammatory disease of blood vessels most commonly involving large and medium arteries of the head, predominantly the branches of the external carotid artery. It is a form of vasculitis.
The name (giant cell arteritis) reflects the type of inflammatory cell involved as seen on a biopsy.
The terms "giant-cell arteritis" and "temporal arteritis" are sometimes used interchangeably, because of the frequent involvement of the temporal artery. However, it can involve other large vessels (such as the aorta in "giant-cell aortitis"). Giant-cell arteritis of the temporal artery is referred to as "temporal arteritis," and is also known as "cranial arteritis" and "Horton's disease
A description of the experience
Rev Med Interne. 2011 Dec;32(12):e119-21. doi: 10.1016/j.revmed.2010.12.014. Epub 2011 Jan 26. [Visual hallucinations and giant cell arteritis: the Charles Bonnet syndrome]. [Article in French] Bloch J, Morell-Dubois S, Koch E, Launay D, Maillard-Lefebvre H, Buchdahl AL, Hachulla E, Rouland JF, Hatron PY, Lambert M. Service de médecine interne, hôpital Huriez, CHRU de Lille, Lille cedex, France.
In patients with visual hallucinations, diagnostic strategy is unclearly codified. In patients known to have giant cell arteritis, the main diagnostic assumption is disease relapse. .... However, the Charles Bonnet syndrome, that is a poorly known etiology of visual hallucinations usually observed in elderly people, should be part of the differential diagnosis. We report a 87-year-old woman, with a 2-year history of giant cell arteritis who was admitted with an acute onset of visual hallucinations and who met all the criteria for Charles Bonnet syndrome.
Copyright © 2010 Société nationale française de médecine interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.
PMID: 21269738