Comment on: Diagnosing giant cell arteritis: a comprehensive practical guide for the practicing rheumatologist: reply.

TLDR: In this article , Quick et al. discuss that prompt treatment and a short delay to informed expert evaluation in an appropriate setting might be worthwhile, as the emergency department is a suboptimal environment to properly evaluate the patient's history and seldom hosts the expert skills required to establish the diagnosis.

Abstract: Dear Editor, We thank Quick et al. for the very valuable comments on our article ‘Diagnosing giant cell arteritis: a comprehensive practical guide for the practicing rheumatologist’ [1]. There is, as Quick et al. rightly point out, no uniform definition of fast-track clinic in GCA [1]. However, existing evidence, as well as American and European guidelines, supports treatment with CSs to avoid potential ischaemic complications as soon as GCA is suspected [2–4]. Consequently, Quick et al. discuss that prompt treatment and a short delay to informed expert evaluation in an appropriate setting might be worthwhile, as the emergency department is a suboptimal environment to properly evaluate the patient’s history and seldom hosts the expert skills required to establish the diagnosis [1]. We uniformly agree that immediate treatment is the most important step in avoiding complications, and fast track clinics can help...