Relapsing Polychondritis with a Cobble-stone Appearance of the Tracheal Mucosa, Preceded by Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome.

Abstract

A 25-year-old woman had convulsions and disturbance of consciousness. Head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed punctate areas in the occipital lobes with increased signals on T2-weighted imaging. The MRI abnormalities responded well to steroid pulse therapy, so we made a diagnosis of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). Three months later, she developed a fever and dyspnea. Chest computed tomography revealed marked thickness of the tracheal and bronchial wall, and bronchoscopy showed a cobble-stone appearance of the tracheal mucosa, indicative of relapsing polychondritis (RPC). We consider that PRES had developed due to autoimmune vasculitis in the brain with RPC.

• Authors: Takahide Ikeda, Motochika Asano, Yoshihiko Kitada, Kouichiro Taguchi, Yuichi Hayashi, Kazuo Kajita, Hiroyuki Morita
• Journal: Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) (Intern Med) Vol. 59 Issue 8 Pg. 1093-1097 (Apr 15 2020) ISSN: 1349-7235 [Electronic] Japan
• PMID: 32009099 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Topics

• Adult
• Brain (pathology)
• Female
• Humans
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Mucous Membrane (pathology)
• Polychondritis, Relapsing (etiology, pathology)
• Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome (complications)
• Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• Trachea (pathology)