Malignant histiocytosis: a case report and review of the literature

Malignant histiocytosis [MH] is a rare hematologic malignancy, especially in the first decade of life. The disease is clinically characterized by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, pancytopenia and jaundice, and histologically by systemic proliferation of malignant histiocytes and hemophagocytosis. The prognosis is poor and often the diagnosis is not made before death. Because of the rarity of this disease, it is unusual for practitioners to diagnose it by bone marrow aspiration [BMA] alone