Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the mandible in a six-year-old child

Histiocytosis is a term applied to a group of rare disorders of the reticuloendothelial system. Eosinophilic granuloma, the most benign and localized of the three Langerhans cell histiocytosis entities, may be solitary or multiple. Eosinophilic granuloma can affect almost any bone, but commonly involves the mandible when the jaws are affected. Conventional treatment of LCH is with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and steroid injections, alone or in combination. Spontaneous regression of localized disease has also been reported. We report a six and a half-year-old patient with Langerhans cell histiocytosis--solitary eosinophilic granuloma of the mandible that initially regressed but rapidly recurred even after radical treatment and had a fatal outcome.