13th August 2024

A 79-year-old lady presents to A&E. She has been feeling generally unwell for the last 3 weeks with a headache

A 79-year-old lady presents to A&E. She has been feeling generally unwell for the last 3 weeks with a headache, fatigue and pain in her shoulders and hips. Today, she experienced transient loss of vision in her right eye. She has a past medical history of ischaemic heart disease, polymyalgia rheumatica, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. On examination, her BP is 162/107 mmHg, HR 88 bpm, oxygen saturations 96% and temperature 37.6 degrees Celsius. Her vision and visual fields are currently normal. There is right temporal region tenderness on palpation.

What treatment should be initiated?

Select the SINGLE most appropriate option from the list below. Select ONE option only.