Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease associated with systemic lupus erythematosus

A cervical lymph node biopsy from a 38-year-old woman initially revealed necrotising lymphadenitis. Her case is presented herein. An exhaustive examination that included renal biopsy did not suggest systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She was diagnosed with Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease (KFD) and was treated with prednisone. One year later, a renal biopsy performed for renal failure revealed Class IV SLE. It was proposed that lymphadenitis in this KFD patient should be considered as SLE so that the SLE would be properly treated. In our patient, this hypothesis was partially correct, because even though SLE could not be verified at initial presentation, it evolved into full SLE after a year interval.