Parietal branch of the superficial temporal artery: An underutilized biopsy site

Elishan ARULIAH *, Paul JUNG and Alexander BOBINSKAS

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Canberra Hospital, Garran, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
 
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2024, 11(02), 1623–1627.
Article DOI: 10.30574/ijsra.2024.11.2.0641
 
Publication history: 
Received on 03 March 2024; revised on 12 April 2024; accepted on 15 April 2024
 
Abstract: 
Purpose: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an immune-mediated vasculitis that can lead to significant symptoms and disease sequelae such as headaches, fevers, weight loss, jaw pain, optic neuropathy with permanent vision loss, and stroke. The gold standard for diagnosis of GCA is a temporal artery biopsy (TAB) as it has a high specificity and sensitivity.
The TAB is commonly harvested from the frontal branch of the superficial temporal artery, however given its location, there are potentially significant consequences including facial nerve injury and poor cosmetic outcomes. An alternative to this method is biopsy of the parietal branch, as it reduces the risk of facial nerve injury and comfortably hides the scar line within the hair of most patients.
Results: We describe in detail our department's TAB technique and experience from pre-procedure preparation to post-procedure care.
Conclusion: The parietal branch TAB is a typically underutilised, well tolerated and viable alternative to the frontal branch TAB and it may be considered in the first instance to reduce the risk of complications.
 
Keywords: 
Arteritis; Biopsy; Temporal; Vasculitis; Technique; Surgery
 
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Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0