Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare multiple system histiocytosis that is characterized pathologically by xanthogranulomatous infiltrates and radiologically by symmetrical sclerosis of long bones. The diagnosis is often confirmed by biopsy of bone or of orbital or retroperitoneal soft tissue. Intracranial involvement is rare. The authors report a case of ECD in which the diagnosis was made after biopsy of a hypothalamic mass. The mass had been discovered during a workup for panhypopituitarism in a 55-year-old man with urological and bone disease. Aside from diabetes insipidus, other features of pituitary insufficiency have seldom been reported and no patients have presented with a hypothalamic tumor. The endocrinological and neurological aspects of ECD are discussed, as is its differential diagnosis. Reported cases of the disorder associated with hypopituitarism or found during biopsy of central nervous system structures are also reviewed.
We have evaluated the craniofacial morphology of Japanese patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and assessed the various postnatal factors that affect it. Lateral cephalograms of 140 subjects (mean (SD) aged 7 (2) years) with UCLP were taken before orthodontic treatment. Surgeons from Hokkaido University Hospital had done the primary operations. The craniofacial morphology was assessed by angular and linear cephalometric measurements. Cheiloplasty, palatoplasty, and preoperative orthopaedic treatment were chosen as postnatal factors. To compare the assessments of the postnatal factors, we made angular and linear cephalometric measurements for each subject and converted them into Z scores in relation to the mean (SD) of the two variables. Subjects treated by the modified Millard cheiloplasty had larger sella-nasion-point A (SNA) and nasion-point A-pogonion (NA-POG) measurements than subjects treated by the modified Millard with a vomer flap cheiloplasty. Two-stage palatoplasty showed consistently better craniofacial morphology than the other palatoplasty. Subjects who had preoperative orthopaedic treatment with a Hotz plate had significantly larger upper incisor/sella-nasion (U1-SN) measurements than who had no preoperative orthopaedic treatment or an active plate. We conclude that in subjects treated by a modified Millard type of cheiloplasty, a two-stage palatoplasty, and a Hotz plate there were fewer adverse effects on craniofacial morphology.