Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease (Histiocytic Necrotizing lymphadenitis): From a Wrong Diagnosis to the Right Disease

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD), also known as histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a self-limiting, benign, and rare systemic lymphadenitis with unknown etiology. The cardinal symptoms are fever, lymphadenopathy and night sweat; consequently, it is first necessary to rule out infectious, lymphoproliferative, and connective tissue diseases such as systemic lupus erythematous. Histology can allow diagnosis by demonstrating necrotizing histiocyte lymphadenitis. Disease, which has no specific treatment, self-limits itself in 1 to 6 months clinically. However, nonsteroid anti-inflammatory agents can be given for symptomatic treatment and there are reports using corticosteroids and antibiotics in complicated cases. This article concerns a 23 years-old female who was diagnosed of a wrong disease but later had the right Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease diagnosis and was treated with anti-inflammatory agents.