title: Isolated III cranial nerve palsies may point to primary histiocytic sarcoma.
abstract: Primary histiocytic sarcoma (HS) of the central nervous system (CNS) is a rare haematopoietic neoplasm. The inconsistent terminology and diagnostic criteria currently used for CNS HS have complicated the appreciation of the clinical aspects of the disease. The main differential diagnoses are non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, reactive histiocytic proliferation, dendritic cell neoplasm, undifferentiated carcinoma, inflammatory pseudotumour, Rosai-Dorfman disease and abscess. The true diagnosis of CNS HS requires an extensive immunophenotypic workup using specific histiocytic markers, such as CD163, with the exclusion of markers of other cell lineages. This clinicopathological case report describes an improved approach towards the differential diagnosis of CNS HS.
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie, Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moulignier
authors.affiliation: Service d'anatomie et cytologie pathologiques, Hôpital Lariboisière, APHP, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mikol
authors.affiliation: Service d'Imagerie Médicale, Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Heran
authors.affiliation: Service d'immunologie, Hôpital Saint Louis, APHP, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galicier
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003389:Cranial Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D054747:Histiocytic Sarcoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D015840:Oculomotor Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed