Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia: two disease entities in the same patient: case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Much controversy has existed with regard to the relationship between Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia. They were initially thought to represent the same disease spectrum, but it has now been widely accepted that they are two separate disease entities. To our knowledge, there have been no reports to date describing a case of both Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia coexisting in the same patient.

METHODS: We describe a patient presenting initially with a right postauricular subcutaneous swelling and subsequently developing multiple erythematous facial papules and nodules. The medical literature is reviewed.

RESULTS: Clinical features of the right postauricular subcutaneous swelling and multiple erythematous facial papules/nodules suggest Kimura's disease in the former and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia in the latter. Histopathological examinations of these lesions helped to confirm the diagnosis of Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia can coexist in the same patient. Coexistence of the two types of lesions in one patient may also be considered evidence that Kimura's disease and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia form a spectrum in one disease.