title: Acute airway obstruction in relapsing polychondritis: treatment with pulse methylprednisolone.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC 20010.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Lipnick
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Fink
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011081:Polychondritis, Relapsing / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D011673:Pulsatile Flow
chemical_list: D008775:Methylprednisolone