Horton's three sisters: familial clustering of temporal arteritis.

The authors describe 3 histologically confirmed cases of temporal arteritis occurring in three siblings aged 62-72 years old, diagnosed from 1999 to 2005. Chapel Hill publication surrogate parameters combined with the American College of Rheumatology criteria for vasculitis were used in the diagnostic procedure. The diagnosis of temporal vasculitis was confirmed by right occipital artery excision and demonstration of relevant histopathology. Although genetic linkage studies have demonstrated a potential genetic predisposition to temporal arteritis, this is one of the rare multiple occurrences of temporal arteritis in a family reported in the literature.