MULTICENTRIC RETICULOHISTIOCYTOSIS

Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (MRH) is a rare condition in which papular and nodular skin lesions containing characteristic bizarre gia nt cells with ''ground-glass cytoplasm'' are associated with a form of severe arthritis. Although earlier cases had been described, the name MRH was proposed by Goltz and Laymon in 1954 to describe the associat ion of multiple skin nodules of this type with arthritis, distinguishi ng this disease from the occurrence of histologically identical solita ry cutaneous nodules called reticulohistiocytomas, which are not assoc iated with systemic disease. At least ten other names have been sugges ted, such as lipoid dermatoarthritis, but MRH has become the preferred appellation. About one fourth of the reported patients with MRH have developed cancer, suggesting that it might be a paraneoplastic disorde r.