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What is the Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis ?
Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is an infrequent disease that appears mainly in children. The first description of this process dates from approximately a century ago. Although there is abundant medical Literature on the subject only recently has been developed a greater attention on this process .
The histiocitos are cells that are in the human body like the leukocytes or the neurons. Its function is to help to recognize material strangers the organism and presentárselos to the immune system. There are a single type of histiocito but no several. One of them denominates cell of Langerhans. When this variety of histiocito proliferates and it is accumulated in certain areas of the body appears disease LCH .
Which is the LCH incidence ?
Esteem that appears a new case per year each 200 thousand children. 76% of the cases appear in smaller children of 10 years, but occasionally it appears in adults to any age, with a considered average of an affected adult of each 600.000
It is cancer ?
No. The disease is not considered a type of cancer although during years treatments for that disease in the patients with L CH have been used.
Consequently, hematologists and oncólogos that patients also deal with with some type cancer dedicate to deal those with LCH .
The definitive cataloguing of the HCL clearly has not been defined and although the cells are related to the immune system is not related to the AIDS .
What kind of problems can cause ?
In a patient the disease can be limited a part of the body, or in many different places .
The disease is more serious when there are several affected sites (more is scattered) and the patient is a small boy .
Which is the cause of the LCH ?
The cause is not known and this is what the greater difficulty generates to define the specific treatment. An abnormal activity of the histiocitos of Langerhans like part of the immune system assumes. Genetic or infectious cause has not been detected. The disease is not inherited nor is infected .
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