[Clinical analysis of 11 patients with relapsing polychondritis].
OBJECTIVE
To improve the understanding of the clinical feature and early diagnosis of relapsing polychondritis (RP).


METHODS
Eleven patients with RP were analyzed retrospectively and the reported literatures were reviewed.


RESULTS
Nine cases had initial involvement of auricular cartilage while two polyarthritis. The treatment of 2RP patients with respiratory tract involvement was invalid and 1 patient died. Nine cases were initially misdiagnosed, with a misdiagnosis rate of 81.82%.


CONCLUSIONS
RP involves cartilage and connective tissue. The prognosis with respiratory tract involvement is poor. RP is a sort of paroxysmal and progressive inflammation involving cartilages all over the body with a variety of clinical manifestations. Early diagnosis of RP is based on full understanding of its clinical features.
Huang
Yang
Y
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming 650032, China. mhy0327@126.com
Mei
Jian
J
Li
Qin
Q
Cai
Chunchun
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011081:Polychondritis, Relapsing / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult