Giant cell arteritis with cervical radiculopathy mimicking polymyalgia rheumatica and elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis: A case report

Giant cell arteritis has a wide variety of clinical symptoms, one of them being cervical radiculopathy, which mainly involves the C5 nerve root. If the patient does not develop typical clinical symptoms of giant cell arteritis but has C5 radiculopathy, it may be misdiagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica or elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis due to old age, high serum infammatory markers, and difficulty in raising both upper limbs.