Original articleManagement of giant cell arteritis: Recommendations of the French Study Group for Large Vessel Vasculitis (GEFA)
Section snippets
Study group
A panel of GEFA members developed the recommendations. The GEFA is mostly composed of teaching hospital physicians specialized in internal medicine who share an interest in managing and conducting research on GCA. An initial panel of 14 experienced “senior” GEFA members volunteered to participate in this project. After the “initial panel” had selected the topics to be addressed, it designated 7 “junior” physicians, all internists or trainees in internal medicine, whose specific task was to help
Results
The development of recommendations lasted from February 2014 to May 2015. The topics selected and their respective objectives, given in Table 1, covered terminology (1 topic), nomenclature and classification (1 topic), diagnostic methods (6 topics) and treatment guidelines (7 topics). The literature summaries for each topic treated are given in the following sections, followed by a short commentary highlighting the panel's opinion on the interpretation of available information.
The panel's
Discussion
The recommendations elaborated herein addressed 15 topics, mostly referring to diagnostic and therapeutic aspects, for which we perceived a need for harmonizing the standards of GCA management. Although the panel was essentially composed of university hospital physicians, these recommendations are also intended for management of patients with GCA seen in non-teaching hospitals and private practice. Except for possible differences across nations in healthcare systems or access to medications,
Disclosure of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
Acknowledgments
We thank Janet Jacobson for translating the manuscript into English, and the “Filière des maladies auto-immunes et auto-inflammatoires rares (FAI2R)” for logistic support of this work.
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