LANGERHANS CELL HISTIOCYTOSIS OF THE SPINE IN CHILDREN

Between May 1972 and December 1991, 58 children were seen in the autho rs' institution for treatment of Langerhans' cell histiocytosis. Of th ese, 15 children (7 males, 8 females) had biopsy-proven Langerhans' ce ll histiocytosis with vertebral involvement, The average age at presen tation was 6.4 years (range, 0.2-13.3 years), At presentation, 8 patie nts had involvement of a single vertebra and 4 had involvement of mult iple vertebrae, Nine patients had extraspinal skeletal involvement, Tw o patients had visceral involvement, Currently, 13 patients have had > 2 years followup (average, 8.9 years; range, 2-21 years), None of thes e patients had clinical evidence of disease at the latest encounter, T his group of patients with Langerhans' cell histiocytosis with vertebr al involvement has fared well, Most patients have had involvement of m ultiple vertebrae and many have had extraspinal bony involvement as we ll, There was a great deal of variability in the extent of collapse an d reconstitution of vertebral height, and the amount of reconstitution did not correlate with patient age.