Epidemiology and geographic clustering of Erdheim-Chester disease in Italy and France.

This geoepidemiological study, performed in Italy and France, shows that Erdheim-Chester disease is increasingly diagnosed and cases cluster in specific geographic areas, namely southern Italy and central France. Disease frequency inversely correlates with the Human Development Index.

Childhood-onset Erdheim-Chester disease in the molecular era: clinical phenotypes and long-term outcomes of 21 patients.

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare histiocytic disorder that can present as a localized infiltration of foamy histiocytes or a multisystem disease that may be life-threatening. It is extremely rare in children. Pegoraro and colleagues present the clinical and molecular features of 21 patients with pediatric ECD through a large international collaboration, documenting that it resembles its adult counterpart, with similar molecular features and responses to agents targeting BRAF and MEK.

Chronic periaortitis: A clinical approach.

Chronic periaortitis (CP) is a rare disease characterised by the presence of a fibro-inflammatory tissue typically enveloping the abdominal aorta, the iliac arteries and, in some cases, the nearby structures, such as the ureters and the inferior vena cava. Imaging plays a key role in the diagnosis and follow-up: computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans are used to define the extension of the pathological tissue, whereas fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography is the gold standard to establish the degree of its metabolic activity. CP must be distinguished from secondary forms of periaortic infiltration, which include malignant, infectious, and drug-related aetiologies.