Kimura's disease in a white man

Background Kimura's disease is a rare inflammatory disease that mainly affects Asians and most often occurs in the deep lymph nodes of the head and neck. We report on a rare case of Kimura's disease in the hard palate of a white man. Method A 56-year-old white man was seen with a rapidly growing mass in the upper jaw. A complete tumor resection with hemimaxillectomy was performed. The tumor, which showed signs of inflammation, was located within the bone and the soft tissue. Results Kimura's disease was diagnosed by histopathologic examination of the resected tumor. Conclusion This case demonstrates that Kimura's disease, though rare, is not limited to the Asian population. We present a case of a tumor in a white man. This adds another possibility for uncertain differential diagnoses of rapidly growing tumor masses. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 33:138–140, 2011