Relapsing Polychondritis

Three cases of relapsing polychondritis are described. One patient had polyarthritis, scleritis, and chondritis of both pinnae. Another had chondritis of his nose and pinnae, serous otitis media, episcleritis and aortitis causing aortic regurgitation: he survived aortic valve replacement but eventually died from a ruptured aneurysm of the abdominal aorta. The third patient had chondritis of the right pinna and nose, polyarthralgia and iritis in association with an illness resembling a systemic vasculitis and including severe proliferative glomerulonephritis. New chemical and histo-chemical data demonstrating a uniform loss of all classes of glycosaminoglycans (mucopolysaccharides) from the affected cartilage and aorta are presented as evidence against a primary biochemical defect. A review of these and the 111 previously reported cases show relapsing polychondritis to have the character of an acquired disease related to the collagen disorders and vasculitides. Anti-cartilage antibodies were demonstrated in the serum of two of the three patients by the indirect immunofluorescent technique.