Multisystemic Langerhans cell histiocytosis presenting as chronic scalp eczema: clinical management and current concepts

Secondary pulmonary hypertension due to pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis accompanied with panhypopituitarism

A 65-year-old man presented to our hospital with complaint of acute dyspnoea. He smoked 30 cigarettes per day from age 20 to 52 years. Immunocytochemical findings revealed 6.3% of positive CD1a cells in the cell fraction of bronchoalveolar lavage, thus suggesting a diagnosis of pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH), after nine years since the first suspicion of PLCH. Furthermore, he was diagnosed with secondary pulmonary hypertension (PH) caused by progressed PLCH by right heart catheterization. At 59 years of age, he was diagnosed with panhypopituitarism, and persistent hormone replacement therapy was subsequently started by an endocrinologist. After the initiation of oxygen therapy and treatment with a combination of sildenafil and warfarin, an estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure reduced 97.9 to 64.0 mmHg. We believed this is a rare case of PLCH with irreversible central nervous system (CNS) disorder in whom severe PH developed due to a long-term burden of PLCH in a middle-aged male.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis: Skin diseases and visceral lesions

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare clonal proliferative disorder that belongs to class I histiocytoses and is characterized by infiltration of one or many organs by Langerhans cells to form granulomas. The literature analysis could identify a lot of etiological, pathogenetic, and trigger factors and mechanisms for LCH development, which determine the diversity of the clinical picture and course of the disease. The clinical manifestations of LCH are very variable and depend on the severity of lesions and the age of patients. In addition to skin lesions, there is involvement of one or more visceral organs. Difficulties in diagnosing the disease lead to statistical variations of LCH in different countries of the world and require more attention by physicians of all specialties.

[Monosystemic, oligolesional Langerhans cell histiocytosis. A rare congenital dermatosis]

A five-day-old female infant presented with congenital red-livid papules and nodules on the head, chest, back and left arm. The nodule on the chest was ulcerated at birth. The pregnancy and delivery were uneventful. There was no history of birth trauma to account for the ulcerated lesion. The parents and the three older siblings were healthy without similar skin lesions. The skin biopsy showed in the deep layer of the dermis a multinodular, granulomatous histiocytic infiltrate. The histiocytic cells expressed S-100 and CD1a. There were additionally many eosinophils. The suspected diagnosis Langerhans cell histiocytosis was confirmed by the histologic results. The patient was referred to pediatric hematology-oncology where evaluation showed no evidence of systemic involvement. The clinical, radiological, sonographic and histological results led to the diagnosis of a congenital, monosystemic, oligolesional Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the skin. In addition to the case presentation, we review the current stand of knowledge of the pathogenesis, the clinical classification and the therapy of the Langerhans cell histiocytosis.