Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a large vessel vasculitis that preferentially affects the cranial arteries and the aorta and its proximal branches [1]. Presenting features of GCA may include symptoms related to vasculitis (such as temporal headache, jaw claudication, visual loss, or limb claudication), constitutional symptoms, and/or polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) [1]. GCA is commonly associated with raised inflammatory markers. A subgroup of patients may present with isolated constitutional symptoms and/or raised inflammatory markers, which is referred to as ‘occult GCA’ [2,3], ‘masked GCA’ [4], ‘silent GCA’ [4–7], or ‘GCA presenting as isolated inflammatory response and/or fever of unknown origin’ [8,9].