All issues > Volume 38(8); 1995

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1995;38(8):1141-1145. Published online August 15, 1995.

Subacute Necrotizing Lymphadenitis (Kikuchi's Disease) in a Child with Atopic Asthma

Dong Jun DJ Kim¹, Seong Yeoub SY Moon¹, Ha Baik HB Lee¹, Yeong Hae YH Koh²

¹Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Histopathology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis (Kikuchi's disease) is an increasingly recognized cause of cervical lymphadenitis since it has been described by Japanese doctors in 1972. It generally follows a benign course, when symptoms and signs of the disease are resolved usually within 1 to 6 months. We experienced a case of subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis in a 12 year-old boy with atopic bronchial asthma highly allergic to hours dust mite. He was admitted with chief complaints of high over 39℃ and enlargement of both posterior cervical lymph nodes and left submandibular lymph nodes. His symptoms and signs were poorly unresponed to antipyretic and antibiotic therapy. Lymph node biopsy for the diagnosis revealed characteristic features of subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis. These included a well circumscribed, localized necrotizing area of the cortical and paracortical regions associated with karyorrhexis and presence of large lymphocytes and histiocytes. However, granulocytes and eosinophils were absent. After prednisolone administration, the smptoms and signs were dramatically improved, and now he keeps doing well.

Keywords :Subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis, Cervical lymph node, Asthma