Hydralazine-induced relapsing polychondritis-like syndrome. Report of a case with severe chronic laryngeal complications.

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare disease of uncertain etiology, characterized by inflammation of cartilage. Cartilage of the respiratory tract is engaged in more than half of all cases. Hydralazine-induced systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) is a well known disease. Females who are slow acetylators and are HLA-DR4 positive when treated with hydralazine are at serious risk of contracting SLE syndrome. We describe here a woman, treated for 10 years with hydralazine, who was a slow acetylator and was HLA-DR4 positive and who presented with a relapsing polychondritis and ultimately required a permanent tracheostoma. To our knowledge, this is the first published case of relapsing polychondritis induced by hydralazine.