Kikuchi disease during pregnancy

Kikuchi disease is a rare but distinctive type of necrotizing lymphadenitis. It has a self-limiting clinical course and usually affects the cervical lymph nodes in young women. Although Kikuchi disease occurs most often in young women, it is rare during pregnancy.

A 28-year-old woman, primigravida, 8 weeks pregnancy, presented initially for antenatal care. Last 4 years, she had chronic cough, weight loss and enlarged left supraclavicular lymph node. The diagnosis was for Kikuchi disease and she received prednisolone for 4 months and had no symptom. She had an enlarged left supraclavicular node again at her first antenatal care. She received no treatment for Kikuchi disease during pregnancy and remained symptom free. The antenatal care course was unremarkable. The maternal outcome was complicated with immediate postpartum hemorrhage; however, the baby was healthy.

This is the fourth reported case of Kikuchi disease developing during pregnancy. When Kikuchi disease occurs in a pregnant woman, there is neither any effect of disease on the pregnant woman nor the fetus.