Relapsing polychondritis diagnosed by Tc-99m MDP bone scintigraphy

Purpose: Relapsing polychondritis is a generalized recurring disease of car tilage that involves joints, trachea, bronchi, laryngeal cartilages, costal cartilages, and cartilages of the ear and nose. It is associated with auto immune diseases, including Hashimoto disease in some cases. Methods: The authors evaluated a 29-year-old man with relapsing polychondri tis who had symptoms and signs of a common cold for 2 months and anterior c hest pain near the sternum for 1 month. Results: After the diagnosis, the authors found that the patient had a hist ory of thyroid therapy for hyperthyroidism 15 years before. Tc-99m MDP bone scintigraphy performed to evaluate anterior chest pain showed diffusely in creased accumulation of radioactivity in all costocartilages and sternoclav icular joints. Based on that information, relapsing polychondritis was diag nosed. Ga-67 citrate scintigraphy was preformed to determine the optimum bi opsy site of the cartilage. The diagnosis was histologically supported by t he results of the open biopsy. Conclusions: In this case, Tc-99m MDP bone scintigraphy was useful for diag nosing relapsing polychondritis, and Ga-67 citrate scintigraphy was helpful in determining the biopsy site.