Epithelioid hemangioma versus Kimura's disease. A comparative clinicopathologic study.

A clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of eight cases of epithelioid hemangioma and 11 cases of Kimura's disease was performed. Patients with epithelioid hemangioma (EH) ranged in age from 15 to 56 years (mean, 37 years) and had small papular or nodular lesions occurring most often on the face and scalp. The lesions were less than 2.0 cm in diameter. There were irregularly hypertrophic vascular structures with swollen endothelial cells and of a variable lymphoid infiltrate with eosinophils. The clustering of small vessels around the arteries or veins was another distinctive feature. Arteriovenous shunts were evident in three lesions. Patients with Kimura's disease, however, presented large solitary or multiple nodules occurring most commonly in the periauricular region. Six patients had a history of regional lymphadenopathy; three patients had eosinophilia of the peripheral blood. Microscopically, the distinctive features were of numerous lymphoid follicles and a salient eosinophilic infiltrate. These lymphoid follicles possessed distinct germinal centers and contained an increased number of dendritic cells. Although some small-vessel proliferation was noted, it was not as distinctive as for patients with epithelioid hemangioma. We conclude from this study that the two conditions should be considered different entities.