Giant cell arteritis (GCA) often presents atypically. An under-recognised presentation is with speech or respiratory involvement. We report a case of GCA with dysphonia and visual loss, a previously unreported combination.

CASE REPORT

A 67 year old woman presented with sudden, non-progressive, painless blurring of the vision in her right eye for 4 days. Her left eye, which had been poor since childhood, was unchanged. She had no other ophthalmic symptoms or history. She smoked and was on treatment for hypertension. On questioning, she reported pain in her throat for 3 weeks, worse on swallowing, which had not responded to oral antibiotics. Her voice had been markedly hoarse for the same period. She denied other respiratory symptoms. She did not have anorexia, weight loss, myalgia, muscle stiffness, scalp …