[Autoimmune panhemopathy in lymphoid hyperplasia in a child]

The case reported concerns a 12 year old boy, admitted in 1970 with a clinical picture evoking a malignant hemopathy: thrombocytopenic purpura, leukopenia, multiple lymphadenopathies, enlarged spleen and, at histological examination, lympho-reticular hyperplasia of the spleen and lymphe nodes, simulating at the beginning, a nodular lymphoma. Immuno-hematological investigations revealed a complex auto-immune picture, which concerned essentially hematopoiesis. In fact, the pseudo-tumoral aspect of lymphenodes, was related to a dysfunction of the immune system, the pathogeny of which is presently better known.