Clinicopathological study of Kikuchi's disease

Kikuchi's disease (KD) is a necrotizing lymphadenopathy with a self-limiting course commonly affecting young people. We conducted a clinico-pathological study of 20 cases of KD received at our department between July 2000 and December 2003. Our study confirmed that KD commonly involves the cervical lymph nodes of young adults, with a female predominance. One patient had associated cutaneous involvement. The hematological parameters were non-specific. The histological features were distinctive and included easy fragmentation on handling, karyorrhexis, crescentic histiocytes and the absence of neutrophils. The differential diagnosis on histology is also discussed.