CT characteristics of Langerhans cell histiocytosis of mandible in children: report of 10 cases

Objective Retrospectively analyses on the CT characteristics of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) of mandible in children with the purpose of investigating the diagnostic value of MSCT on LCH. Methods The CT images of LCH of mandible confirmed by pathology were collected in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from Jan, 2006 to July, 2016. On the other hand, the SinoMed and Pubmed databases (-2016) were consulted with the key words related to LCH and mandible, without any other limit. Then, the full text of the target articles were acquired and picked out artificially. The Descriptive analysis was used as statistic method. Results Totally 18 cases were reviewed, including 10 cases from our hospital and 8 cases from the articles. The LCH of the mandible in children turned out to be a well-defined (14/18) , punched-out lytic (17/18) mass with a homogeneous soft tissue density (13/18) , which may had a periosteal reaction (11/18) and a slight bone line (5/18) . The adjacent teeth might be pressed slightly or not. But the root histiocytosis of tooth and dental follicle might be eroded (3/18) . The mass could have mild-middle enhancement (10/10) with a significant enhanced margin (5/10) . Conclusion CT plays an important role in the diagnosis of LCH of mandible in children, as well as in the comprehensive assessment and therapy. Key words: Mandible; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-cell; Tomography, X-ray computed