Multiple Painless Cervical Lymphadenopathies Misleading the Diagnosis of Kikuchi’s Disease

TL;DR

A young man with Kikuchi’s disease showed unusual painless neck swelling, highlighting the disease's varied presentation.

Contribution

This case report presents an atypical clinical manifestation of Kikuchi’s disease with painless lymphadenopathy.

Findings

The patient presented with prolonged fever and bilateral painless cervical lymphadenopathy.

Histopathology confirmed histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis consistent with Kikuchi’s disease.

Abstract

Kikuchi’s disease is an unusual and self-limited disease. It manifests as a painful cervical lymphadenopathy and is associated with a low-grade fever and night sweats. Recently, this disease has been reported worldwide, compared to its initial high prevalence among the Japanese population. The etiologies of Kikuchi’s disease are still unknown, but it has been proposed to have either infectious or immunological causes. We report the atypical presentation of a young male with Kikuchi's disease. A 22-year-old male presented with a prolonged fever for a week, which was associated with bilateral neck swelling that was painless and gradually increased in size. In our case, histopathological examination of the left cervical lymph node revealed histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis in favor of Kikuchi's disease. This case report will highlight the atypical clinical presentation of this patient, thereby increasing awareness of the disease's future manifestation.

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