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Description
A 59-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) presented with dyspnoea for 3 days. Physical examination revealed diffuse rhonchi over chest, and very hard, thick, deformed auricles except for the ear lobules, which were soft (figure 1A). Patient reported remote history of episodic pain and redness of his ears and nose, which improved with over-the-counter pain medicines. A radiograph of the ears showed calcification of the auricular cartilages (figure 1B, white arrow). A complete blood count showed neutrophilic leucocytosis of 13.1×103/µL and chronic normocytic anaemia of 12.3 g/dL. Inflammatory markers including erythrocyte sedimentation rate …
Footnotes
Contributors AM, VM and SKS collected and analysed the data and drafted the report. AM and SB conceptualised the report and provided care for the patient. SB revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.