Malignant histiocytosis is a rare disease and originally described by Scott and
Robb-Smith in the name of histiocytic medullary reticulosis(HMR). It is a rapidly
progressive and usually fatal disorder characterized clinically by fever, generalized
lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenoinegaly frequently accompanied by jaundice and
patiologically by widespread tissue infiltration of immature and mature histiocytes. In
Korea, 46 cases of malignant histiocytosis were described and the incidence of bone
marrow involvement was 76.1%.
In order to define the cytopathological characteristics of this entity, we riviewed 13
cases of malignant histiocytosis admitted to Kyung Hee University Hospital during the
last 8 years and special emphasis was put on the analysis of bone marrow findings.
The results are as follows:
1. The patient's ages ranged from 12 to 72 years. There are 8 males and 5 females.
2. Most of the cases disclosed clinical manifestations of high fever, genelal weakness,
GI symptoms, coughing and abdominal pain.
3. On examination, most of the cases had hepatosplenomegaly, generalized
lymphadenopathy and jaundice,
4. Cytopenia more than two cell lines was present in 12 cases and immature
histiocytes were found on buffy coat smear in 10 patients.
5. Immature & mature histiocytes were present in all bone marrow aspirates and the
proportion of immature histiocytes ranged from 2.2% to 31.4% of all nucleated cells.
6. Bone marrow biopsy or clot section revealed interstitial pattern of atypical
histiocytic infiltration.
7, Histologic diagnosis was made from liver, lymph node, salpinx and bronchial
mucosa and imprint preparation from fresh biopsy tissue was valuable.
8. Bone marrow aspirates including buffy coat preparation and biopsies from involved
tissues were found best suited for establishing the diagnosis.
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