Kimura ' S Disease and Angiolymphoid Hyperplasia with Eosinophilia : a Comparative Study

INTRODUCTION Kimura's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease involving the dermis and subcutaneous tissue characterized by one or multiple painless nodules. It affects the subcutaneous tissues, major salivary glands, and lymph nodes, chiefly in the head and neck region. It is often accompanied by peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevated serum IgE. e pathogenesis of Kimura's disease remains unknown, although allergic reaction, trauma, autoimmune process and infective causes have been implicated. Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia is a rare benign vasoproliferative disease of an unknown cause which occurs in older patients and it usually presents as superficial, light pink to red-brown papules and nodules that are frequently found in the dermis and superficial fascia of the head and neck, and particularly in the periauricular region. Western authors believed Kimura's disease and ALHE to be the same disease because they share similar clinico-histopathological features: predilection for head and neck, lymphoid infiltration with eosinophils, vascular proliferation and absence of adnexal structure involvement. However, there are also many differences between the two conditions that suggest they are distinct entities. We present two cases, each representing either of the two conditions, similarities and differences between them in terms of clinical and histopathological features are discussed and the literature is reviewed.