Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis with lungs and liver involved

We describe a 56-year-old man with a 2-year history of papulonodules, pruritic and painful on palpation, on the head, trunk, limbs, buttocks and scrotum and a 1.5-year history of rheumatoid arthritis-like joint changes. Biopsies from the nodules on the head and left elbow revealed multinucleated giant cells with eosinophilic 'ground-glass' cytoplasm. Computed tomography revealed that there were scattered nodules in the liver and both lungs. Biopsies taken from nodules in the right lung and liver were consistent with multicentric reticulohistiocytosis. The widely scattered cutaneous papulonodules and the generalized systemic involvement make this patient interesting, and the condition should be differentiated from other diseases in clinicopathological practice.