[Relapsing polychondritis]

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare disease of unknown origin consisting in recurrent inflammatory episodes of cartilaginous structures as well as other organs such as the eye, the inner ear and the kidney. Symptoms of autoimmune or rheumatic disorders frequently precede those typical of relapsing polychondritis and thus the contemporaneous presence of these diseases is a common observation. Consequently some diagnostic concerns connected to the great variability of the early symptoms and also to the lack of a semiotic test do exist. It is widely recognized that a serious involvement of the tracheo-bronchial cartilage the lumen diameter with a consequent heavy dyspnoea which reduces occurs in relapsing polychondritis. In these cases the study of the thorax area by means of CT was of fundamental importance. Furthermore, histological analysis of bioptic specimens from tissues only apparently not affected, such as the pinna of the ears, better defines the nature of the disease. The Authors present a case report, characterized by the presence of a saddle-nose deformity as well as a dyspnoea caused by a lumen stenosis related to tracheo-bronchial cartilage chondritis.