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Multiple nail fold nodules in a child
Author(s) -
Tallon B.,
Rademaker M.,
Thorburn M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
australasian journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.67
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1440-0960
pISSN - 0004-8380
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-0960.2006.00311_5.x
Subject(s) - medicine , giant cell , pathology , nodule (geology) , asymptomatic , histiocyte , histiocytosis , biopsy , multinucleate , eosinophilic , dermatology , disease , paleontology , biology
A case is presented of a 5 year old girl, who over 12 months developed multiple asymptomatic yellow‐brown nodules over the distal digits and nail beds, in association with joint stiffness and swelling. Biopsy of a representative nodule showed a nodular non‐encapsulated dermal histiocytic infiltrate. Within this were scattered multinucleate giant cells with a ground glass eosinophilic cytoplasm consistent with multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (MR). This is a rare subgroup of the non‐Langerhans cell histiocytoses which in contrast to solitary giant cell reticulohistiocytomas, is associated with a destructive arthritis. Typically MR affects Caucasian adults, with paediatric cases being rarely reported. Coeliac antibodies, strongly positive in this case, have only once been described in association with this disease, and may support an autoimmune pathogenesis.