Weis et al reported a simple score for identify a patient who is likely to have a positive temporal artery biopsy when being evaluated for giant cell arteritis (GCA). The authors are from the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Laval and University of Ottawa.
Patient selection: suspected giant cell arteritis
Parameters:
(1) erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in mm in first hour
(2) serum C-reactive protein (CRP) in mg/L
(3) platelet count in 10^9/L
Parameter
Finding
Points
ESR
<= 9 mm/h
-1
10 to 90 mm/h
0
> 90 mm/h
1
CRP
< 2 mg/L
-1
2 to 115 mg/L
0
> 115 mg/L
1
platelet count
< 224 * 10^9
-1
224 to 634 * 10^9
0
> 634 * 10^9
1
total score =
= SUM(points for all of the parameter)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: -3
• maximum score: 3
• Everyone with a score >=1 had a positive biopsy
• About a third of patients with a score of 0 had a positive biopsy.
• No one with a positive biopsy had a score less than 0.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve is 0.81.
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