What is the immediate treatment required for temporal arteritis to prevent complications?

The immediate treatment required for temporal arteritis, also known as giant cell arteritis, is high-dose corticosteroids. This condition can lead to serious complications, most notably vision loss, such as blindness in the affected eye. The inflammation associated with temporal arteritis can affect the branches of the ophthalmic artery, leading to ischemia of the optic nerve and resulting in sudden and permanent vision impairment.

Prompt recognition and initiation of corticosteroid therapy are crucial to mitigate this risk, as the window for reversing visual loss is relatively short. Thus, prioritizing treatment to prevent blindness directly addresses the most significant and immediate concern in patients with temporal arteritis.

The other options, while they may relate to complications that can arise in various contexts, do not have the same level of urgency or direct connection to the most critical outcome associated with temporal arteritis. Therefore, the focus is on immediate treatment to prevent vision loss, making blindness in the affected eye the correct and most relevant answer in this context.