Petrified pinna and pericarditis in autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome

Abstract

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 manwho 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.