Malignant lymphorna with a high content of epithelioid histiocytes

SUMMARY A series of 12 patients with a rare malignant lymphoma containing numerous epithelioid histiocytes (MLEH), originally believed to be an atypical variant of Hodgkin's disease, is described. Clinicopathological studies suggest MLEH is a distinct entity among the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas which is generally resistant to therapy and has an unfavourable prognosis. Differentiation of the disease from angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy and Hodgkin's disease is discussed. In the necropsy case MLEH had transformed into a malignant lymphoma of histiocytic type. A rare type of lymphoma with a high content of epithelioid histiocytes was described by Lennert and Mestdagh in 1968 and considered to be an atypical variant of Hodgkin's disease. Subsequently the lesion was redesignated 'Iympho-epithelioid cellular lymphoma ' (Lennert et al., 1975) and uncertainty as to its exact nature was expressed. It now seems that the disease originally described was not a single entity but included several different types o