Kikuchi Disease Masquerading as Lymphoma: Unravelling the Diagnostic Conundrum

Kikuchi Disease is a rare, self-limiting autoinflammatory pathology, traditionally presenting with fever and cervical lymphadenopathy. Generalised lymphadenopathy remains an underreported presentation of this disease in the literature. We present the case of a 28-year-old woman who presented with fever of unknown origin along with unilateral cervical lymphadenopathy. PET-CT revealed generalised lymph node involvement with high tracer uptake values, creating the classic picture of lymphoma. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry analysis finally helped establish the diagnosis of Kikuchi disease. The non-specific presentation of this disease, coupled with its self-resolving nature, poses a significant diagnostic dilemma, underscoring the importance of a thorough workup and a high degree of clinical suspicion to guide accurate diagnosis.