[Langerhans cell histiocytosis. Report of four cases]

Langerhans cell histiocytosis implies the proliferation and accumulation of anomalous, cytologically benign tissue macrophages in a given site. In the Hospital General y Universitario of Alicante, Spain, from 1975 to 1996 four patients presented with granulomatosis and otorhinolaryngological signs and symptoms: a 7-year-old girl with a right mastoid eosinophil granuloma, a 2-month-old boy with Letterer-Siwe syndrome whose illness started as acute mastoiditis, a 23-month-old boy who developed eosinophil granulomas of both mastoids and one ischium, and an 8-month-old girl with a right zygomatico-temporal eosinophil granuloma. The treatment and clinical course of each case is described and compared with the results of other authors.