Concordance of bilateral temporal artery biopsy in giant cell arteritis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the diagnostic sensitivity of bilateral temporal artery biopsy is superior to that of unilateral biopsy in cases of suspected temporal arteritis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the results of 60 bilateral temporal artery biopsies examined in an ophthalmic pathology laboratory.

RESULTS: The histopathologic diagnosis in 13% of the biopsy pairs was discordant. There was a 5% chance of obtaining a positive biopsy result on the side opposite an initially negative biopsy result.

CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral temporal artery biopsy is 5% more likely than unilateral biopsy to detect the characteristic histopathologic findings in patients with temporal arteritis.