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Halo Sign Vanishing Time After Steroids Outbreak in GCA Patients

NCT07060274 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 64

Last updated 2025-07-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a rare disease characterized by vasculitis of the large arterial trunks targeting the thoracic aorta and its dividing branches, affecting adults over the age of 50. Vasculitis lesions cause thickening of the arterial wall, visible on temporal artery biopsy (TAB) or vascular imaging (echo-Doppler, angio-CT, angio-MRI, 18FDG PET-CT). This is a severe disease that can lead to blindness. Early diagnosis is essential, so that steroids therapy can be started as soon as possible to prevent complications. Doppler ultrasonography of the temporal arteries provides rapid, non-invasive diagnostic support. However, the recommendations do not specify how soon temporal artery Doppler should be performed after steroids treatment, except that the halo sign would disappear after about 5 days on steroids. Sensitivity seems to be better when the examination is performed early, but the time taken for the halo sign to disappear is unknown. The investigator suggests that the disappearance of the temporal artery halo sign in GCA patients is observed earlier than D14 of steroids treatment usually reported in the literature. He speculates that the sensitivity of the temporal artery Doppler decreases as early as D3 of steroids treatment, and that beyond D7 it is not useful to perform this examination as its sensitivity becomes too low.

Conditions

  • Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)
  • Doppler Ultrasound

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Doppler Ultrasound

Doppler ultrasound of temporal arteries at D0, D3 and D7 (+ D15 if halo detected at D7) after initiation of corticosteroid therapy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Centre Hospitalier le Mans

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-09-30
Primary Completion
2027-10-31
Completion
2027-10-31

Countries

  • France

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07060274 on ClinicalTrials.gov