Articular involvement in patients with relapsing polychondritis.

Our objective was to study joint symptoms in patients with relapsing polychondritis (RP) and their relationship to other clinical manifestations and laboratory findings. Fourteen patients who met the diagnostic criteria proposed by Michet et al. for RP were studied. Clinical symptoms were recorded and a detailed laboratory analysis with HLA-DR typing was carried out. In 2 patients arthritis was the first manifestation. During the follow-up, 10 patients developed arthritis. It was polyarticular in 6, and oligoarticular in 4 cases. The development of arthritis was unrelated to the appearance of chondritis at other sites. HLA class II typing was determined in 7 patients. Six of them were positive for HLA-DR4. Arthritis in RP is a frequent manifestation occurring in approximately 70% of patients with an asymmetric articular involvement. There is no correlation between articular involvement and any particular clinical or laboratory feature. Susceptibility to RP is significantly related to the presence of HLA-DR4.