title: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease: a rare but important cause of fever and lymphadenopathy in pregnant women.
abstract: We report a case of Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD) in a 28-year-old pregnant woman with prolonged fever and generalized lymphadenopathy. We evaluated the patient for etiology of the fever and adenopathy, which were unresponsive to antibiotic therapy. Cervical lymph node histology showed KFD. Currently, there is scant data available regarding the course and treatment of KFD during pregnancy. We administered steroid therapy (prednisone 1 mg/kg/day) to control severe systemic and constitutional symptoms. We observed a reduction in lymph node size as well as abatement of fever and other constitutional symptoms. The patient carried the fetus to full term with no apparent adverse effect. Our experience showed that steroid therapy may be used effectively to control KFD-related symptoms after the first 16 weeks without terminating the pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, Erciyes University, Faculty of Medicine, Dedeman Oncology Hospital, Kayseri, Turkey. faltuntas@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Fevzi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Altuntas
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Canoz
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yildiz
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eser
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Unal
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D020042:Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008206:Lymphatic Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D011241:Prednisone