Serra S, Monteiro P, Pires E, Vieira R, Telechea O, Inês L, Salvador M J, Malcata A
Serviço de Reumatologia, Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal.
Acta Reumatol Port. 2011 Jul-Sep;36(3):292-7.
The authors describe the case of a 49 year-old male patient with a 3-year history of antiphospholipid syndrome, admitted after presenting in the emergency room with erythematous nodular skin lesions, affecting the face and neck, with a week's duration. Local biopsies were suggestive of interstitial granulomatous dermatitis. The patient described lesions compatible with bilateral auricular chondritis, two weeks prior to the appearance of the nodules, which resolved spontaneously after 3 days. There was a previous episode of nasal chondritis, two years previously, and another episode starting at the 7th day of hospitalization. These findings, taken together with a diagnosis of seronegative polyarthritis established 5 years before the current events, lead to a diagnosis of relapsing polychondritis.