Tissue and serum angiogenic activity is associated with low prevalence of ischemic complications in patients with giant-cell arteritis.

Background: Vascular inflammatory lesions from patients with giant-cell arteritis show a remarkable amount of neovascularization, but its clinical implications have never been investigated.

Methods And Results: To assess the clinical relevance of neovascularization in giant-cell arteritis, angiogenesis was measured in temporal artery sections from 31 patients with biopsy-proven giant-cell arteritis by staining endothelial cells with Ulex europaeus lectin. Angiogenesis was highly variable among these patients.