Diffuse small bowel involvement in malignant histiocytosis.

The extremely unusual patient reported here had malignant histiocytosis with extensive gastrointestinal involvement. The presenting symptoms were those of a gastrointestinal disorder and barium studies of the upper gastrointestinal tract revealed an infiltrative process of the entire small bowel. A biopsy of the small bowel demonstrated abnormal malignant cells and the diagnosis of malignant histiocytosis was considered and confirmed at postmortem. Strongyloidiasis, which was also found in this patient, may represent a hyperinfestation phenomenon due to altered host-parasite balance.