title: Effective treatment of Kimura's disease with leflunomide in combination with glucocorticoids.
abstract: Kimura's disease (KD) is a rare, benign, chronic inflammatory disease which typically presents as persisting or recurring tumor-like lesions in the head and neck area that can be easily misdiagnosed. We report one patient with KD treated with leflunomide in combination with glucocorticoids and analyzed the literature on treatment of KD. The patient had a recurrent mass in the left upper arm with eosinophilia and elevated serum IgE but no renal involvement. The clinical manifestations improved markedly within 1 month, and blood eosinophil count and serum IgE normalized. Corticosteroids were then tapered gradually without recurrence or severe side effects in the 2-year follow-up period. Literature analysis identified four different non-drug interventions and 18 different drugs for treating KD, most of which were obtained from case reports. Our use of combination therapy of leflunomide and glucocorticoids suggests the need for a controlled trial for the treatment of this rare disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. liedai2004@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Lie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Xiu-Ning
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Dong-Hui
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Ying-Qian
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pessler
authors.forename: Bai-Yu
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000796:Angiolymphoid Hyperplasia with Eosinophilia / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007555:Isoxazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000077339:Leflunomide; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007555:Isoxazoles; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D000077339:Leflunomide