Inflammatory fibrous histiocytoma

The name inflammatory fibrous histiocytoma (FH) is applied to a rare group of disorders which is not well known to surgeons but which may require surgical treatment. The name is misleading in that although there may be features of inflammation, the clinical progress, absence of causative organism and fatal outcome seem to place it within the sphere of malignancy. The condition is fully described by Kyriakos and Kempson (1976) and a case with a periorbital lesion managed by multiple surgical excisions, the "berry-picking" technique, is documented by Jones et al., (1979). The average age is over 50 years and the sex distribution about equal. In this paper a patient much younger than average is presented to illustrate the problems of diagnosis and management. During the course of treatment an observation was made on the "take" of a free graft on the cortex of the sternum.