Cutaneous Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the genitalia in the elderly: a report of three cases.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a disease with a broad spectrum of clinical presentations. All of the variants have in common the proliferation of cells which are morphologically, biochemically, and immunophenotypically indistinguishable from Langerhans cells. A retrospective study of three elderly patients revealed the unique presentation of cutaneous Langerhans cell histiocytosis limited to the genitalia. These cases produced a diagnostic challenge because of their unusual clinical presentation and their morphological similarity to certain other entities, including extramammary Paget's disease and malignant melanoma, which may also show S-100-positive atypical cells. All three cases showed infiltrates of histiocytic-appearing cells with folded nuclei and moderate amounts of cytoplasm which involved the epidermis, dermis, or both. Immunoperoxidase studies using antibody to S-100, CD1a and CD68 in each case showed positive staining.
Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California, USA. smeehan@pathology.stanford.edu
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D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female; D005832:Genital Diseases, Male / Q000473:pathology*; D006646:Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000473:pathology*