Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a sight‐ and life‐threatening, granulomatous large‐vessel vasculitis. Typical symptoms include headache, fever, and weight loss. GCA may cause permanent loss of vision, but may also lead to cerebrovascular strokes and myocardial infarction. GCA is treated with high‐dose, long‐term oral glucocorticoids. Temporal artery biopsy is considered the golden standard in the diagnosis of GCA, in which a 2 cm long piece of the temporal artery is surgically excised (biopsy) and analysed histologically to identify inflammatory lesions in the vessel wall. This technique has high specificity but low sensitivity.

Of the biopsies 30-70% are negative due to discontinuous inflammation (also known as skipped lesions); too short a part of the artery being excised, and/or pre‐operative steroid treatment. Furthermore, risks are associated with surgical biopsy, including facial nerve palsy. Attempts have been made to develop non-invasive imaging techniques for the diagnosis of GCA, in particular, ultrasonography, but the sensitivity has been disappointing.

Our aim is to develop and implement non‐invasive imaging techniques for the diagnosis of GCA with high sensitivity and specificity, in order to avoid surgical excision and, at the same time, enable multiple examinations and treatment follow‐up.