Observational studyRMD open2020
Vascular ultrasound for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis: a reliability and agreement study based on a standardised training programme.
Observational study in RMD open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Norwegian society of rheumatology recommendations on diagnosis and treatment of patients with giant cell arteritis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Ultrasound, PET/CT or temporal artery biopsy for giant cell arteritis? A prospective diagnostic accuracy study (the GAME-study).Acta ophthalmologica · 2026Observational
- Temporal artery biopsy and temporal artery ultrasound inter-rater agreement for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis: an ancillary analysis from the multicentre prospective ECHORTON study.Rheumatology international · 2025Article
- A Case of Giant Cell Arteritis Presenting With a Hyperechoic Wall Thickening on Temporal Artery Ultrasonography.Cureus · 2025Article
- An in-depth comparison of vascular inflammation on ultrasound, FDG-PET/CT and MRI in patients with suspected giant cell arteritis.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- OMERACT GCA phantom project: validation of a 3D-printed ultrasound training phantom for diagnosis of giant cell arteritis.RMD open · 2025Article
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- Article
- DWI scrolling artery sign for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis: a pattern recognition approach.RMD open · 2024Article
- Giant cell arteritis: reviewing the advancing diagnostics and management.Eye (London, England) · 2023Review
- Predictive Factors of Giant Cell Arteritis in Polymyalgia Rheumatica Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Fever Correlation with Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) Concentrations in Patients with Isolated Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): A Retrospective Comparison Study between Hospital and Out-of-Hospital Local Registries.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The diagnostic accuracy of temporal artery ultrasound and temporal artery biopsy in giant cell arteritis: A single center Australian experience over 10 years.International journal of rheumatic diseases · 2022Article
- Looking ahead: giant-cell arteritis in 10 years time.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2022Review
- Current developments in the diagnosis and treatment of giant cell arteritis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- Evolution of ultrasound in giant cell arteritis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the impact of a standardised training programme including equipment adjustment for experienced musculoskeletal ultrasonographers without previous experience in vascular ultrasound (US) on the reliability of US in the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA).
methodsIn this prospective, non-interventional observational cohort study, patients suspected of GCA were evaluated by US by one of five rheumatologists with long-standing experience in musculoskeletal US (>8 years), trained using a standardised training programme including equipment adjustment. Images of cranial and large vessels were subsequently evaluated first by the performing ultrasonographer and thereafter by a blinded external expert (gold standard).
resultsIn three Danish centres, 112 patients suspected of GCA were included. According to the external expert, vasculitis changes were seen in 66 patients, in 45 of them with only cranial involvement, in 14 with both cranial and large vessel involvement, while in seven patients isolated large vessel vasculitis was found. The reliability was excellent between the local ultrasonographer and the US expert for the overall GCA diagnosis regarding the diagnosis of cranial and for large vessel GCA, with an interobserver agreement of 95-96%, mean kappa values of 0.88-0.92 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.99). Excellent reliability (mean kappa 0.86-1.00) was also found for the US examination of the individual arteries (temporal, facial, common carotid and axillary).
conclusionThe US training programme resulted in excellent agreement between trainees and an expert in patients suspected of GCA and may thus be applicable for implementation of vascular US in clinical practice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.