A person can have reactive lymph nodes throughout multiple areas of the body which can cause swelling, pain, warmth and tenderness.
Bacterial, fungal and viral infections including Bartonella, Staphylococcal, Granulomatous, Adenoviral and Lyme disease are all associated with follicular hyperplasia.
Environmental conditions that may also play a role are animal or insect exposure, chronic medication usage and immunization status.
[1] Children often experience reactive lymph nodes when they are younger due to new exposure of environmental pathogens, even without development of an infection.
[1] It has also been described that the condition may stem from primary reactive lymphoid proliferations that may be triggered by an unidentified antigens or some sort of chronic irritation by ultimately causing lymph node enlargement.
When the immune system recognizes foreign proteins in order to mount an attack, it requires help from these blood cells.
[4] It is important to note that reactive lymph nodes are not necessarily a bad thing, in fact they are a good indication that the lymphatic system is working hard.
When antigens are presented, the lymphocytes inside of the node trigger a response which can cause proliferation or cell enlargement.
Another indication of lymphoma compared to follicular hyperplasia is high levels of lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and C-reactive proteins (CRP).
[medical citation needed] A lymph node biopsy may reveal an official diagnosis for lymphoma, by ruling out follicular hyperplasia which can be determined by the rate of proliferation.
[medical citation needed] Factors that identify etiology of the patient include age, duration of lymphadenopathy, external exposures, associated symptoms and location on the body.
Captopril is an analog to proline and completely inhibits angiotensin converting enzymes (ACE) and as a result decreases angiostatin II production.
It can also inhibit tumor angiogenesis through MMPs and endothelial cell migration, which can ultimately cause lymph node enlargement.
Other anticonvulsant medications, Phenytoin and Primidone, can also cause lymph node enlargement due to changes in the blood after drug administration.
[4] Proceeding a tissue sample, an effective treatment for follicular hyperplasia is surgical removal of the lesion after an initial conformation of the disease based on the patients biopsy results.
[1] It can be typically found in children and young adults however all ages are subject to follicular hyperplasia, including the elderly.
A sample biopsy was obtained from the patient's mouth and the indicated results showed benign lymphoid tissues.
This study was significant because they were able to diagnose a very rare case of follicular lymphoid hyperplasia derived from an unusual origin site of the mouth, however they were unable to determine the onset of her condition.