Petrified pinna and pericarditis in autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome

• Published in: BMJ case reports Vol. 12; no. 6; p. e229369
• Main Authors: Sedhai, Yub Raj, Basnyat, Soney
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 01-06-2019; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Case Report
• Subjects: Adrenal glands; Adrenal Insufficiency - drug therapy; Calcification; Calcinosis - etiology; Case reports; Diabetes; Diagnosis, Differential; Dissection; Dyspnea; Ear Auricle - pathology; Edema; Embolisms; Emergency medical care; Empty Sella Syndrome - diagnostic imaging; Health risk assessment; Heart; Humans; Hypothyroidism - drug therapy; Male; Medical imaging; Middle Aged; Pericardiocentesis - methods; Pericarditis; Pericarditis - diagnostic imaging; Pericarditis - etiology; Pericarditis - therapy; Physiology; Polyendocrinopathies, Autoimmune - complications; Polyendocrinopathies, Autoimmune - diagnosis; Polyendocrinopathies, Autoimmune - immunology; Proteins; Thyroid diseases; Treatment Outcome; Unusual Association of Diseases/Symptoms; adrenal disorders; thyroid disease; pericardial disease
• ISSN: 1757-790X; 1757-790X
• DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2019-229369

Petrified pinna refers to the calcification or ossification of the external auricular cartilage. It is an uncommon clinical entity and is most often associated with local trauma, frostbite or inflammation. Auricular calcification may be the exclusive cutaneous marker of underlying endocrinopathy. It has been most commonly associated with adrenal insufficiency and other endocrine conditions like diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism and acromegaly. We present a 47-year-old Caucasian man who presented with acute pericarditis with tamponade physiology, who was found to have petrified pinnae as a telltale sign of the underlying autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2.