Occult Temporal Arteritis

Abstract

The classic syndrome of temporal arteritis has been the subject of much attention in general medical and ophthalmic literature, and its features are familiar to most ophthalmologists. However, little emphasis has been given to the fact that temporal arteritis may be a distinctly occult disease without sufficient symptoms and signs to alert the physician to its presence. Because of the devastating ocular complications of the disease and its potential reversibility by appropriate therapy, it is essential that ophthalmologists recognize temporal arteritis at the earliest possible stage of the disease. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the occult nature which this disease may assume and to document this occult form with 5 cases. <h3>Classical Temporal Arteritis</h3> Temporal arteritis was first described by Hutchinson in 1890,¹but attention was not attracted to it as a significant syndrome until Horton²in 1932 described it in detail. Since this