Abstract
A 72-year-old woman visited nearby hospital because of dry cough, and the chest CT revealed thickening of the tracheal and bronchial walls. She was referred to our hospital for close examination and treatment. During hospitalization, she developed acute type II respiratory failure due to exacerbation of airway stenosis. She was treated with steroid pulse therapy under ventilatory management. In this case, the clinical diagnosis of relapsing polychondritis (RP) was made after treatment, because there was no time to make a definitive diagnosis due to the rapid progression of airway stenosis.
Airway involvement can be fatal in RP, and require early treatment, even if the patient doesn’t meet the diagnostic criteria.
