Elsevier

Medicine

Volume 30, Issue 9, 1 September 2002, Pages 84-86
Medicine

Polymyalgia Rheumatica

https://doi.org/10.1383/medc.30.9.84.28239Get rights and content

Abstract

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a common inflammatory disease predominantly seen in the elderly. It is characterized by pain and stiffness, usually of sudden onset, affecting the limb girdle areas (shoulder, hip), neck and torso, and associated with an acute phase response (raised ESR and C-reactive protein (CRP)) and a rapid response to low-dose corticosteroids. Other conditions (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic infection, inflammatory muscle disease, neoplasia) must be excluded. PMR is linked to giant cell arteritis (GCA, also known as temporal arteritis), which affects the cranial branches of arteries arising from the aortic arch, most typically the superficial temporal artery.

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