Urticarial vasculitis revealing relapsing polychondritis.

We report a case of hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis heralding a relapsing polychondritis in a 63-year-old woman. The patient, who had suffered in the past from polymyalgia rheumatica, suddenly experienced a generalized urticarial eruption with a dramatic decrease in C4 complement fraction and the presence of anti-C1q antibodies. Two months later, an ear chondritis occurred and the patient rapidly responded to steroids and dapsone. To our knowledge, this association has never been reported.