• Jingchen Zhang, Xujian He, Jia Hu, and Tong Li.
• Department of Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, 12377Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
• J. Int. Med. Res. 2021 Apr 1; 49 (4): 3000605211009489.

AbstractRelapsing polychondritis (RP) is a multisystemic rheumatic disease characterized by widespread and potentially destructive inflammatory lesions of the cartilage. The rarity of this disease and the lack of pathological diagnostic laboratory tests can occasionally lead to delayed diagnosis. We herein describe a 51-year-old woman with RP. She was sent to our hospital 4 days after the development of an upper respiratory tract infection with difficulty breathing. Her clinical condition significantly improved after the performance of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in an awake state, implantation of a tracheal stent, and administration of steroid therapy. Airway involvement of RP may be life-threatening. In this case, endotracheal intubation would have undoubtedly been very dangerous. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can be performed in an awake state to maintain oxygenation and improve the chance of survival.

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