title: Multicentric Castleman's disease in a child with prominent thymic involvement: a case report and brief review of the literature.
abstract: A fatal case of multicentric Castleman's disease (giant lymph node hyperplasia) with prominent thymic involvement in a 12-yr-old girl is presented. Multicentric Castleman's disease is a poorly understood lymphoproliferative disorder generally occurring in elderly individuals. To our knowledge, this is the first case in the English literature of multicentric Castleman's disease in a child. Thymic involvement has not been described previously in the multicentric variant or in a child. Besides the characteristic findings of Castleman's disease (CD), such as hyaline-vascular follicles and a prominent plasmacytic infiltrate, the thymus was also marked by prominent epithelial hyperplasia in the medulla. The clinical and pathologic findings are presented with a review of the literature, particularly thymic involvement in CD and CD in the pediatric population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Holbrook
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Weisenburger
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D005871:Castleman Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000601:surgery; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000473:pathology*