Kimura's disease of the right cheek: A case report

[Swelling of the salivary glands and sicca symptoms in Kimura's disease, a rare rheumatological differential diagnosis with an indicatively high IgE serum level-A current overview after literature search]

Rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) include various diseases with sometimes rather different symptoms, some of which are locally confined and others show systemic features. Autoimmune phenomena, such as those occurring in Sjögren's syndrome, often cause symptoms such as xerostomia and xerophthalmia in association with inflammation of the salivary glands. The pathogenesis of these diseases is only partly clarified. This is similar to allergic diseases, which are otherwise clearly different with respect to the symptoms and pathomechanisms but swelling of the salivary glands can also rarely occur here. As this is a possible differential diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome or also IgG4-associated diseases, and such a case was recently described, a literature search was carried out in PubMed, the results of which are presented here and summarized in this article in a brief overview.

Kimura disease: a rare cause of a recurrent cheek mass in a Jamaican man

Kimura disease (KD) is a chronic, inflammatory, benign disorder endemic to Asia that typically manifests as a triad of painless masses in the head and neck region, elevated eosinophils and serum immunoglobulin. It usually affects young men in their second and third decades of life and is rarely seen outside of the orient. This is a report of a case of KD in a young man of African descent who presented with a cheek mass. KD was not included in our differential diagnosis, and this report highlights the need to consider this entity, which can be easily missed due to its rarity in the Western world. There is no cure for the disease, and management includes medical and surgical modalities, but local recurrence or relapse is not uncommon.

Kimura Disease Presenting with Buccal Mass: A Case Report and Literature Review

A 52-year-old man with a 2-year history of left buccal swelling was admitted to our department. An elastic hard oral mass was palpated under the intact buccal mucosa. A CT scan with enhancement revealed a solid mass measuring 2.0 × 1.5 × 1.3 cm between the left masseter muscle and the maxilla. Laboratory examination showed elevated peripheral blood eosinophil count of 1070/μL (12.3%) and serum immunoglobulin (Ig)E level of 1374 IU/mL. Histologic examination of transorally excised mass revealed lymphoid follicular hyperplasia with reactive germinal centers and eosinophilic infiltration with eosinophilic micro-abscesses in the germinal centers. Abundant IgE deposition in a reticular fashion was observed in the germinal centers and c-kit positive mast cells was observed in the paracortical area in the excised mass. The patient was diagnosed with Kimura disease (KD) and treated with oral prednisolone, tapering from 10 mg/day for approximately 8 months. Eosinophil count and serum IgE level decreased to 435/μL (5%) and 520 IU/dL, respectively. He is free from symptoms at the time of this submission. KD, a rare, benign, and chronic inflammatory disorder, occurs predominantly in young male adults in Asia. Patients with KD who presents with buccal mass are relatively rare. Immunohistologic analyses suggested that an allergic reaction played an important role in the etiology of KD in this case.

Kimura's disease: effects of age on clinical presentation

BACKGROUND

Kimura's disease (KD) is known to be dominant among young Asian men, but it can also occur in middle- and advanced-aged people. The clinical characteristics of KD, especially by age, are not well known.

AIM

This study was performed to investigate the effects of age on the clinical characteristics of KD.

DESIGN

We conducted a case series study.

METHODS

All case studies of patients diagnosed with KD were collected via a PubMed search of studies published until August 2018. The data were analyzed by age group.

RESULTS

In total, 215 studies were reviewed (238 patients; mean age of 36 years). The male:female ratio was 4:1 overall, 17:1 in patients aged <20 years, 4:1 in patients aged 20-39 years and 2:1 in patients aged ≥40 years (P = 0.01). The percentage of patients with pruritus was 15.4% overall, 3.8% in patients aged <20 years, 15.5% in patients aged 20-39 years and 21.7% in patients aged ≥40 years (P = 0.02). The time to diagnosis was 5.3 years overall, 3.2 years in patients aged <20 years, 4.7 years in patients aged 20-39 years and 7.1 years in patients aged ≥40 years (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of female patients affected the incidence of pruritus, and the time to diagnosis increased as the patients' age increased. There were no significant age-related differences in region/race, complications, multiplicity, laterality, anatomical distribution, maximum size, eosinophil count, immunoglobulin E level, initial treatment, recurrence or outcomes. This may be useful information for the diagnosis of KD.