Kimura's disease

Abstract

The analysis of published clinical observations on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with Kimura's disease, which is a rather rare chronic inflammatory disease of human soft tissues of unknown etiology, is presented. The onset of Kimura's illness is hardly noticeable. The disease proceeds sluggishly, with a varied clinical picture, most often with the formation of single or multiple subcutaneous nodules or tubercles and swelling in the head and neck on one or both sides. Other localizations of lesions are also described: limbs, orbit, eyelids, palate, pharynx, armpit, chest, inguinal region. The affected areas gradually increase in size over many months or years. Other clinical manifestations of Kimura's disease are presented in the form of edema of the extraocular muscle, juvenile temporal arteritis, sleep apnea in cases of damage to the larynx, and life-threatening coronary artery spasm in children. There are reports of other rare systemic clinical signs of Kimura's disease in the form of pruritus, eczema and rash. The disease is often associated with regional lymphadenopathy and/or salivary gland involvement, eosinophilia, and an increase in serum immunoglobulin E from 800 to 35,000 IU/mL. The disease may be accompanied by kidney damage in the form of glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome. Most reported cases of Kimura's disease occur in young Asian men in their 20s and 30s, sporadically the disease is diagnosed in Europeans, North Americans, Caucasians, and Africans. Diagnosis of Kimura's disease is often clinically difficult. It is primarily based on excisional biopsy of the lesion or regional lymph nodes, and the histopathological findings are consistent regardless of the location of the lesion. Morphologically, Kimura's disease is characterized by the presence in biopsy specimens of such histological features as reactive follicular hyperplasia with prominent follicles surrounded by fibrous tissue. Interfollicular infiltrates are rich in plasma cells and eosinophils, which form diffuse eosinophilic microabscesses associated with granulomatous inflammation. The vessels are numerous, with an increase in postcapillary venules. At the same time, the blood vessels remain thin-walled, with cuboidal endothelial cells. Treatment issues are highlighted, and differences between Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia are presented.