Phenytoin-induced hemocytophagic histiocytosis indistinguishable from malignant histiocytosis
Gutiérrez-Ravé Pecero, V.M.; Luque Márquez, R.; Ayerza Lerchundi, M.A.; Fernández Jurado, A.
Southern Medical Journal 84(5): 649-650
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0038-4348 PMID: 2035091 Document Number: 374384
We have reported a case of phenytoin-induced hemocytophagic histiocytosis indistinguishable on clinical and histopathologic grounds from malignant histiocytosis. We emphasize the need to investigate for microbiologic causes and drug ingestion, even if the diagnosis of malignant histiocytosis is plausible. We think that reactive and malignant histiocytosis are not really two distinct entities with different etiologies, but a continuum of host responses to several insults with different degrees of aggressiveness depending on the host immune status.