Cytological diagnosis of Castleman′s disease of the soft tissue

Abstract

Castleman's disease (CD), a rare benign disease is characterized by lymphoid hyperplasia of uncertain etiology that may present as a nodal or extranodal mass. We describe herein a rare case of CD occurring in the soft-tissue of right arm in a 55-year-old woman. The present case is instructive in the differential diagnosis of primary soft-tissue tumors, for which the possibility of CD should be considered. On clinical examination as well as gross examination, this disease mimics lymphomas and tuberculosis. Since cytological appearances vary depending on the type and extent of hyperplasia, fine needle aspiration cytology findings may not always be conclusive in all cases. We studied aspirates which revealed reactive hyperplasia with increased vascularity. Excision confirmed the diagnosis.

Intrapulmonary unicentric Castleman disease mimicking peripheral pulmonary malignancy

“…The etiology remains unclear; human herpesvirus‐8 has been suggested to play a causative role in the development of multicentric Castleman disease . Castleman disease has also been described in association with a number of conditions, including human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV), Kaposi sarcoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, non‐Hodgkin lymphoma, and polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes (POEMS) syndrome …”

“…7 Castleman disease has also been described in association with a number of conditions, including human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV), Kaposi sarcoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes (POEMS) syndrome. [8][9][10] The natural history and types of treatment vary according to the form of the disease. Although Castleman disease can occur at any age, most of the literature indicates that unicentric disease tends to appear in the third to fourth decades.…”

A Cytological Review of Follicular Dendritic Cell-Derived Tumors with Emphasis on Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma and Unicentric Castleman Disease

“…Cytological descriptions on CD are almost limited to isolated case reports and small series. Most of them report unicentric cases of the HV variant ( Table 3 ) [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ].…”

“…Almost all of them coincide in that a specific cytological diagnosis is challenging. The first report was published in 1982, and since then at least 23 articles including 40 patients have followed [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Thirty-two correspond to the HV type; six to the PC variant, and two are mixed or not specified.…”