Rison Richard A
University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles County Medical Center, Los Angeles, California USA; Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, 12401 Washington Blvd,, Whittier, California 90602, USA.
J Med Case Rep. 2011 Jan 26;5:34. doi: 10.1186/1752-1947-5-34.
Giant cell arteritis is an emergency requiring prompt diagnosis and treatment. Superficial temporal artery biopsy is the gold diagnostic standard. Complications are few and infrequent; however, facial nerve injury has been reported, leaving an untoward cosmetic outcome. This case report is to the best of our knowledge only the fourth one presented in the available literature so far regarding facial nerve injury from superficial temporal artery biopsy.
A 73-year-old Caucasian woman presented for neurological evaluation regarding eyebrow and facial asymmetry after a superficial temporal artery biopsy for presumptive giant cell arteritis-induced cephalalgia.
Damage to branches of the facial nerve may occur after superficial temporal artery biopsy, resulting in eyebrow droop. Although an uncommon and sparsely reported complication, all clinicians of various specialties involved in the care of these patients should be aware of this given the gravity of giant cell arteritis and the widespread use of temporal artery biopsy.
巨细胞动脉炎是一种需要迅速诊断和治疗的急症。颞浅动脉活检是诊断的金标准。并发症很少见；然而，已有面神经损伤的报道，会留下不良的美容后果。据我们所知，本病例报告是迄今为止现有文献中关于颞浅动脉活检导致面神经损伤的第四例报告。
一名73岁的白人女性因疑似巨细胞动脉炎所致头痛进行颞浅动脉活检后，因眉毛和面部不对称前来接受神经学评估。
颞浅动脉活检后可能会发生面神经分支损伤，导致眉毛下垂。尽管这是一种罕见且报道较少的并发症，但鉴于巨细胞动脉炎的严重性以及颞动脉活检的广泛应用，参与这些患者护理的各专科临床医生都应知晓这一点。
