Since 1972, a unique lymphadenitis called as subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis has been described in many Japanese literature and a few English articles. This condition is accepted as a new entity in Japan, but not yet in other countries. We have occasionally encountered lymph node biopsies which showed histologic picture of subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis with clinical impression of malignant lymphoma. As an initial step to investigate the etiology of this disease, we studied the common clinicopathologic features in 24 cases of subacute necrotizing lymphadenitis. The lesion frequently developed in the cervical lymph node of young women, causing simple enlargement of lymph node and was accompanied by fever or pain occasionally. The duration of symptoms was within one month and seasonal distribution was not remarkable. In laboratory tests, WBC was below 4000/㎣ in 8 cases and Widal test was negative in all of 4 cases examined. Microscopically, the characteristic finding was the wide area of patch or confluent necrosis associated with numerous karyorrhectic nuclear dusts and surrounded by diffuse infiltration of immunoblastic or activated histiocytoid cells. No appreciable plasma cell or neutrophilic infiltration were noted.