Pericardial patch tracheobronchoplasty for airway stenosis due to relapsing polychondritis

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by recurrent inflammation in cartilaginous tissue, leading to progressive deformation and impaired function. Involvement of the laryngo-tracheobronchial tree is common and contributes significantly to the disease’s morbidity and mortality. Currently, medical management dominates, and bronchoscopic interventions offer limited satisfactory results. Notably, no surgical management approach for tracheobronchial tree involvement in relapsing polychondritis has been reported in the literature. In this paper, we present a case of sequential tracheoplasty and bilateral bronchoplasty as a novel surgical approach for managing relapsing polychondritis affecting the tracheobronchial tree.