CT and MR Findings of Kimura's Disease in the Head and Neck

PURPOSE: Kimura's disease is an inflammatory condition of unknown etiology which usually occurs in salivary glands and cervical lymph nodes. This study was undertaken to evaluate the radiologic characteristics of Kimura's disease using CT and MRI. MATERIALS & METHODS: We evaluated CT & MR of 10 patients with histologically proved Kimura's disease in the head and neck. Six males and four females between 16 and 58 years old (mean age, 37.6 years) were included. Contrast enhanced CT scan was performed in all, and spin-echo MRI was performed in 2 patients. RESULTS: Both CT and MRI demonstrated the distinctive sites of involvement that were major salivary glands (4 cases) and lacrimal gland (1 case), periglandular soft tissue (8 cases), and cervical lymph nodes (8 cases). Majority of soft tissue lesions were ill-defined with infiltration to adjacent fascial planes, but nodal lesions were relatively well-defined and homogenous. The lesions were iso-intense on Tl-weighted image and hyper-intense on T2-weighted image. All but a few nodal lesions showed variable degree of contrast enhancement on CT and MRI. CONCLUSION: In diagnosis of Kimura's disease, CT & MRI of head & neck, especially salivary glands, are useful. In cases of recurrent periglandular soft tissue mass with contrast-enhancing cervical lymphadenopathy in adult patients, Kimura's disease should be included in the differential diagnosis.