Langerhans cell histiocytosis historical perspective

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Haytham Allaham, M.D. [2]

The clinical presentation of Langerhans cell histiocytosis was first described by Dr. Alfred Hand Jr., an American pediatrician, in 1893.^[1] The term histiocytosis X was first used to describe the disease by Dr. Sidney Farber, a pathologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, in 1941. The term Langerhans cell histiocytosis was finally agreed upon in 1987 by the the Writing Group of the Histiocyte Society.^[2][3]

• The clinical presentation of Langerhans cell histiocytosis was first described by Alfred Hand Jr., an American pediatrician, in 1893.^[1]
• The term Hand-Schüller-Christian disease was first used to describe the clinical entity following the work of Dr. Artur Schüller and Dr. Henry Christian.^[2]
• Between the years 1920 and 1940, Dr. Erich Letterer and Dr. Sture Siwe used the term eosinophilic granuloma (Letterer–Siwe disease) to describe a similar clinical entity of the disease.
• It was not until the year 1941 that Dr. Sidney Farber, a pathologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, unified the clinically similar conditions under the term histiocytosis X.
• Following the advances of electron microscopy, the term Birbeck granules was first used to describe the particles found in Langerhan cells in 1961.^[4]
• The phagocytic nature of Langerhan cells was first described in 1973 by Dr. Christian Nezelof.^[3]
• The term Langerhans cell histiocytosis was finally agreed upon in 1987 by the the Writing Group of the Histiocyte Society.^[5]

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