Relapsing polychondritis is a rare disease of unknown etiology. The distruption of the cartilagenous matrix is the predominant change of histopathology in this disease. An aditional case was reported. A woman, aged 48, complained of hoarseness with stridor and dyspnea, sore throat, and fever. After the hospitalization deformity of the left auricle, saddle nose, pain of the knee joints, episcleritis were noted. Impaired hearing w ith fullness in the ears was also present, and Bekesy audiometry revealed Jerger' type II. The deformed auricular cartilage was investigated electron microscopically, and being compared with the finding of the auricular cartilage obtained from a patient with chronic otitis media. Loss of small dense granules and thin fibrous structure in the matrix was the predominant change in the involved cartilage. Findings of the electron microscopic observation suggested that some metabolic disorder occurred in the matrix of cartilage, thereby releasing acid mucopolysaccharide, and inflammatory reactions followed.
