[Reactive hemophagocytic syndrome: analysis of a series of 7 cases]

We report a series of seven patients with reactive hemophagocytic syndrome, which was quite characteristic of its etiological spectrum. Infections were the leading cause, among them a case associated with HIV and another one with Salmonella enteritidis (a hitherto unreported association). The clinical findings consisted of fever, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, rash and pancytopenia. The diagnosis was carried out by bone marrow aspiration-biopsy except in two patients who were diagnosed at autopsy. The difficulty of the differentiation from malignant histiocytosis is discussed: one case of hemophagocytic syndrome due to diphenylhydantoin toxicity (the second reported one in the literature) was histologically undistinguishable from it. We think that, in any etiology, hemophagocytic syndrome is a reactive syndrome with variable intensity. The need for extensive microbiological investigation even in cases of histiocytosis of neoplastic appearance is emphasized.