Liver involvement in giant cell arteritis.

Giant cell arteritis is a vasculitis which usually affects large and medium-sized vessels in patients over 50 years old. The liver is one of the internal organs which can be involved in this systemic disease. During the last 15 years, 56 patients with giant cell arteritis were seen in our hospital. In 12 patients disturbed liver function test were found. In the majority of cases the disturbance was of cholestatic type and resolved completely with steroid treatment. The association of temporal arteritis with disturbed liver function tests is discussed, with a review of the recent literature.