In this episode, John Stone, MD, MPH, director of clinical rheumatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, sits down to discuss his approach to giant cell arteritis and the results of the GiACTA trial. Learn why Stone believes the most important diagnostic test in GCA is the patient’s history.

• Intro :10
• Background on Dr. Stone :59
• The interview 2:10
  • Differentiating subtle GCA from the “classic case” 2:20
  • Data from Stone’s recent paper in Rheumatology 5:17
  • Using bilateral biopsies 9:00
  • Recommendations for temporal artery biopsy – who, when, where 11:13
  • Thoughts on imaging for GCA diagnosis 13:14
  • IL-6 and treatment of GCA 15:16
  • GiACTA trial – what surprised you most about the efficacy of prednisone alone? 19:05
    • Findings with tocilizumab 21:29
  • Inflammatory markers in GCA 24:47
  • Should we use tocilizumab right off the bat? 26:50
  • What excites you the most about the future of this field? 29:59
• Thank you, Dr. Stone 31:33
• Recap 31:38

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