Acute airway obstruction in relapsing polychondritis: treatment with pulse methylprednisolone

We describe 2 adolescents with relapsing polychondritis who developed acute airway obstruction. Both were successfully treated with intravenous steroids for this complication following failure with oral steroids. Early respiratory tract involvement in younger patients seems predictive of a poor outcome and aggressive therapy with intravenous high dose steroids and/or immunosuppressive drugs appears to be indicated.