A clinical case of early successful diagnosis and treatment of relapsing polychondritis

Abstract

Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is a generalized progressive autoimmune inflammatory disease of the cartilaginous tissue, which leads to structural changes in the cartilage until its complete disappearance. To date, about 800 RP cases have been described in the world. The clinical manifestations of RP are diverse, which often complicates the early diagnosis of the disease. The most commonly used drugs to stop RP activity are glucocorticoids, the dose of which depends on the severity of its clinical manifestations, but there is no evidence for their effect on the progression of the process and the risk of relapse. The paper describes a clinical case of early diagnosis and successful treatment of the disease, which could prevent possible complications and disability in the patient.

Keywords

• relapsing polychondritis
• cartilage damage
• clinical case
• prednisone