Hannachi Sassi Samia, Fitouri Zohra, Braham Emna, Mrad Karima, Mattousi Nadia, Abbes Imen, Dhouib Rym, Ben Becher Saida, Ben Romdhane Khaled
Service d'anatomie et de cytologie pathologiques, institut Salah-Azaiez, Bab Saadoun, Tunis-1006, Tunisie.
Ann Pathol. 2008 Feb;28(1):32-5. doi: 10.1016/j.annpat.2007.10.002. Epub 2008 May 16.
Chronic granulomatous disease (GCD) of childhood is a rare inherited immunodeficiency. It is characterized clinically by the occurrence of severe and recurrent uncontrollable infections, which often lead to death in early childhood. The underlying biologic anomaly is a defective microbicidal capacity of phagocytosis with abnormal oxidative response during phagocytosis. Histologically, the GCD is characterized by a spectrum of histopathological features in a wide range of tissue specimens, often demonstrating features of active chronic inflammation, with or without non-caseating granuloma formation. The presence of numerous pigmented macrophages in association with such an inflammation should raise suspicion of the diagnosis. We report a case of a GCD in an 11-year-old boy and study the anatomoclinic features of this rare entity.