Giant cell arteritis of the breast. A unique syndrome.

A 58-year-old woman had a unilateral, solitary breast lesion determined by biopsy to be due to giant cell arteritis. Clinical, laboratory, and pathological findings in this patient and in other patients reviewed from the literature revealed that characteristically patients with giant cell arteritis of the breast have (1) tender unilateral or bilateral nodules at times mimicking breast carcinoma; (2) significant constitutional symptoms of anorexia, weight loss, myalgias, fever, and arthralgias; (3) marked elevation of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate; (4) normal or mildly decreased hemoglobin values and normal or slightly elevated leukocyte counts; (5) normal temporal artery biopsy findings; (6) rare organ involvement; and (7) rapid improvement after prednisone therapy or frequent spontaneous resolution. This mode of presentation suggests features of a unique syndrome since many patients had no systemic involvement, require no treatment at all, and had a self-limited clinical course.