Which condition is typically treated with high-dose prednisone and diagnosed by temporal artery biopsy?

• A. Aortic Dissection
• B. Peripheral Artery Disease
• C. Giant Cell Arteritis
• D. Phlebitis

Answer: (C)

Giant cell arteritis is the condition this item is testing. It’s a vasculitis of medium to large arteries that almost always affects adults over 50. The reason prednisone is used in high doses is to rapidly suppress inflammation and prevent ischemic complications, especially vision loss from ophthalmic artery involvement. Diagnosis is often confirmed with a temporal artery biopsy, which typically shows granulomatous inflammation with multinucleated giant cells and intimal hyperplasia, reflecting the inflammatory process in the artery wall.

The other conditions don’t fit this pattern: aortic dissection presents with sudden, severe chest or back pain and is treated as an acute vascular catastrophe with blood pressure control and surgical evaluation, not with high-dose steroids. Peripheral artery disease stems from atherosclerosis causing claudication and is evaluated with vascular studies rather than biopsy of arteries for inflammatory changes. Phlebitis involves vein inflammation and is managed differently, not with high-dose corticosteroids for a large-vessel inflammatory process.