Gastrointestinal Tract Involvement of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis: Concerning Point of Diagnosis

Abstract

An 8-month-old girl presented with chronic mucous bloody diarrhea for 3 months. She was diagnosed as infective gastroenteritis and did not improve after antibiotic treatment. Three months subsequently, she was diagnosed with allergic gastroenteritis after developing generalized skin rash and was treated with amino acid-based formula but the symptoms of diarrhea deteriorated. The results of a biopsy of the gastrointestinal tract and skin lesions confirmed the diagnosis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis. Although Langerhans cell histiocytosis is uncommon with gastrointestinal tract involvement, Langerhans cell histiocytosis should be listed in the differential diagnosis for patients who present with chronic mucous bloody diarrhea that is unresponsive to multimodality treatment.

Keywords

• chronic mucous bloody diarrhea
• gastrointestinal tract involvement
• langerhans cell histiocytosis