Stenosis of the Subglottic Trachea Revealing Relapsing Polychondritis of a Young Adult

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare inflammatory disease involving essentially cartilaginous structures. Other systemic manifestations can be encountered as the eye and ear disturbance. Aortic aneurysms affect few cases. If affection of airway cartilages occurs, prognosis may be worsened by eventual stenotic lesions. We report a 22-year-old woman with Relapsing polychondritis. When she was referred to our hospital 4 weeks after the onset of respiratory symptoms, she was having severe breathing difficulty. Immediate tracheostomy followed by steroid therapy improved her respiratory condition, although the treatment was complicated because of her diabetes. While airway involvement of Relapsing polychondritis can be life threatening, it is curable with steroid therapy. Clinicians should keep in mind that airway obstruction could be caused by this disease.