Temporal arteritis.

Temporal (giant cell) arteritis is a disease of older persons that has a variety of clinical presentations. It is a major cause of blindness. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate is almost always markedly elevated. Corticosteroidss in large doses are urgently required. The diagnosis is established by biopsy of an artery. In an 80-year-old women who sudddenly became blind, the signs had been masked by low doses of steroids given for a mistake diagnosis.