Severe Kikuchi's disease responsive to immune modulation

Lin DY, Villegas MS, Tan PL, Wang S, Shek LP
Correspondence: Dr Lynette Peck-Chi Shek, paeshekl@nus.edu.sg

ABSTRACT
Kikuchi’s disease, although an uncommon entity, has been increasingly reported since it was first discovered in 1972. The most common manifestation of Kikuchi’s disease, cervical lymphadenopathy, has no clinically distinguishable features. Therefore, a diagnosis of Kikuchi’s disease has largely been based on clinical suspicion and histopathological confirmation. We present a 15-year-old Chinese girl with severe Kikuchi’s disease, whose relapsing course was only responsive to high-dose steroids and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy.

Keywords: cervical lymphadenopathy, intravenous immunoglobulin, necrotising lymphadenitis, Kikuchi’s disease
Singapore Med J 2010; 51(1): e18-e21