Chest
Volume 112, Issue 6, December 1997, Pages 1701-1704
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Selected Reports
Treatment of Diffuse Tracheomalacia Secondary to Relapsing Polychondritis With Continuous Positive Airway Pressure

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.112.6.1701Get rights and content

Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is a rare disease characterized by recurrent inflammation and destruction of the cartilaginous structures. Tracheobronchial chondritis is a dreaded complication of RP. We wish to report a case of RP of the trachea and bronchi which was treated with nasal continuous positive airway pressure.

Section snippets

Case Report

A 46-year-old woman was transferred to the Toronto Hospital for management of subglottic stenosis. She had been managed in the past for presumed asthma with bronchodilators and oral corticosteroids. She never smoked and had no occupational exposures. Six months prior to admission she developed increasing paroxysms of breathlessness and cough. Her activities of daily living were becoming increasingly limited owing to persistent dyspnea, and she eventually became completely bedridden. There was

Discussion

Patients with RP typically present with auricular chondritis, inflammatory arthritis, and nasal chondritis. Respiratory tract involvement in RP is an uncommon presenting feature, but its incidence increases as the disease progresses. Females develop airway complications more frequently.2, 3, 4 Patients who present with respiratory tract involvement have a worse prognosis than those with other organ involvement and have a poorer response to oral corticosteroids.2, 3, 5 The patient reported

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