[Kikuchi's histiocytic necrotising lymphadenitis: a benign disorder--not to be confused with malignant lymphoma].

A 26-year-old woman who later turned out to have the rarely seen histiocytic necrotising lymphadenitis of Kikuchi was twice diagnosed incorrectly with malignant T-cell lymphoma. She was treated with standard chemotherapy, whereas Kikuchi's disease has a self-limiting course. Fear for recurrent lymphoma greatly affected the patient's life until the proper diagnosis was ultimately made. This occurred after the patient herself had seen in her dossier that the diagnosis 'Kikuchi's histiocytic lymphadenitis' had been proposed by two pathologists of the consulted regional lymphoma board in the past, but had been rejected by the board after external consultation.