Xanthogranulomatous inflammation

The Xanthogranulomatous Process (XP), is a form of acute and chronic inflammation characterized by an exuberant clustering of foamy macrophages among other inflammatory cells. Localization in the kidney and renal pelvis has been the most frequent and better known occurrence followed by that in the gallbladder but many others have been subsequently recorded. The pathological findings of the process and etiopathogenetic and clinical observations have been reviewed by Cozzutto and Carbone. The Xanthogranulomatous Process (XP), is a form of acute and chronic inflammation characterized by an exuberant clustering of foamy macrophages among other inflammatory cells. Localization in the kidney and renal pelvis has been the most frequent and better known occurrence followed by that in the gallbladder but many others have been subsequently recorded. The pathological findings of the process and etiopathogenetic and clinical observations have been reviewed by Cozzutto and Carbone. The xanthogranulomatous type of inflammation is most-commonly seen in pyelonephritis and cholecystitis, although it has more recently been described in an array of other locations including bronchi, lung, endometrium, vagina, fallopian tubes, ovary, testis, epydidymis, stomach, colon, ileum, pancreas, bone, lymph nodes, bladder, adrenal gland, abdomen and muscle. Telling apart clinically a XP from a tumor condition can be challenging as pointed out by several authors. Cozzutto and Carbone suggested that a wide array of entities characterized by a large content of histiocytes and foamy macrophages could be traced back at least in part to a xanthogranulomatous inflammation. These include such varied disturbances as xanthoma disseminatum, ceroid granuloma of the gallbladder, Whipple's disease, inflammatory pseudotumor of the lung, plasma cell granuloma of the lung, malakoplakia, verruciform xanthoma, foamy histiocytosis of the spleen in thrombocytopenic purpura, isolated xanthoma of the small bowel, xanthofibroma of bone, and gastric xanthelasma.