Histopathological Analysis of Temporal Artery Biopsy Following Dynamic Full-field Optical Coherence Tomography, a Comparison to Conventional Histopathological Findings in Patients With Suspected Giant Cell Arteritis (DOCTA)

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a type of large vessel granulomatous vasculitis responsible for the inflammation of the aorta and the branches of the external carotid, notably temporal arteries. The diagnosis of GCA relies upon the identification of vasculitis following histopathological analysis of temporal artery biopsy (TAB) showing mononuclear cells infiltration, fragmentation of the internal elastic lamina as well as significant intimal hyperplasia. Apart from its lack of sensitivity, one of the weaknesses of TAB is the delay in obtaining the result due to the time required to prepare the sample for histological analysis. Pursuing the idea to improve TAB performances, our group recently demonstrated the use of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) to visualize structural changes associated with the inflammatory processes of GCA. The present work suggests a further use of dynamic FF-OCT on TAB for a direct visualization of the mononuclear cells infiltration to ensure rapid on-site diagnosis of GCA.

Inclusion Criteria:patient > 50 years of age with suspected giant cell arteritis who received temporal artery biopsy between start study date and primary completion dateExclusion Criteria:inability to perform dynamic full-field optical coherence tomography observation at the moment of temporal artery biopsy