A case of relapsing polychondritis preceded by inner ear involvement

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare disease of unknown etiology causing systematic inflammation of the whole cartilaginous tissues. We report a patient with relapsing polychondritis preceded by inner ear involvement. A 68-year-old female visited our hospital for a chief complaint of sudden bilateral hearing loss. On pure-tone audiometry, sensorineural hearing loss, 47dB on the right and 51dB on the left, was observed. Later, bilateral auricular chondritis and uveitis developed. On biopsy of the auricular cartilage, perichondritis was observed. The patient was diagnosed with relapsing polychondritis in the early stage, 2 weeks after the onset. Oral predonine administration was initiated, and the auricular inflammation was improved within 10 days. The hearing loss disorder was gradually improved. The steroid dose was reduced, and no decrease in hearing has been observed so far.