Bilateral pleural effusion and interstitial lung disease as unusual manifestations of Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease: case report and literature review

• Published in: BMC pulmonary medicine 2010-11, Vol.10 (1), p.54-54, Article 54
• Main Authors: Garcia-Zamalloa, Alberto, Taboada-Gomez, Jorge, Bernardo-Galán, Pilar, Magdalena, Fernandez-Martinez, Zaldumbide-Dueñas, Laura, Ugarte-Maiztegui, Mario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Adult; Biopsy; Case Report; Case studies; Diagnosis; Fever; Glucocorticoids - administration & dosage; Glucocorticoids - therapeutic use; Hepatitis; Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis - complications; Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis - drug therapy; Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis - pathology; Hospitals; Humans; Hypothyroidism; Internal medicine; Lung diseases; Lung diseases, Interstitial; Lung Diseases, Interstitial - diagnosis; Lung Diseases, Interstitial - drug therapy; Lung Diseases, Interstitial - etiology; Lymph Nodes - pathology; Lymphadenitis; Lymphocytes; Male; Pleural Effusion - diagnosis; Pleural Effusion - drug therapy; Pleural Effusion - etiology; Pleural effusions; Prednisone - administration & dosage; Prednisone - therapeutic use; Pulmonology; Tomography; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1471-2466; 1471-2466
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2466-10-54

Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease (KFD), also called histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a rare, idiopathic and self-limited condition usually characterized by cervical lymphadenopathy and fever, most often affecting young patients. Aetiology is unknown. Differential diagnosis includes mainly malignant lymphoma, tuberculous lymphadenitis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), so early diagnosis is crucial. Pleuropulmonary involvement due to isolated KFD has been seldom reported. a 32-year-old man, on treatment for iatrogenic hypothyroidism, was admitted due to high grade fever and painful cervical lymphadenopathies. KFD was diagnosed by lymph node biopsy. Some days after admission the patient got worse, he developed generalized lymphadenopathy, bilateral pleural effusion and interstitial lung disease. All of them resolved with prednisone and after two years of following up he remains asymptomatic and without evidence of any other associated disease. Pleural effusion and interstitial lung disease are very uncommon manifestations of KFD. In our experience, treatment with oral prednisone was effective.