Laryngeal involvement in relapsing polychondritis: Case report and review of literature

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare multisystem autoimmune disease of unknown origin characterised by recurrent episodes of inflammation and progressive destruction of the cartilaginous structures and connective tissue of the whole body. The diagnosis of relapsing polychondritis is difficult. We present a review of the literature and describe a case of 49-year old woman. Her symptoms began in June 2004 with sore throat, dysphonia, pain in the thoracic wall and some joints, a slightly raised temperature and cough. The objective picture was immediately apparent after carrying out a high definition neck-thorax computed tomography and a laryngoscopy with fiber optics, which showed considerable laryngo-tracheal damage. As can be seen the diagnosis of RP today remains very difficult. The delay in diagnosis of our patient was considerable as described in literature and now estimated to be about 2.9 years. Perhaps an ENT examination would have hastened the diagnosis.