Castleman disease of the abdomen: imaging spectrum and clinicopathologic correlations.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to define the imaging spectrum of Castleman disease of the abdomen and to correlate the results with clinicopathologic findings.


METHODS
Seventeen patients (male/female 7:10; mean age 35.6 years) with pathologically proved Castleman disease in the abdomen were included in this study. Radiologic findings (CT, n =17; US, n =10; MR, n =1) were retrospectively reviewed by two readers and were correlated with clinical and pathologic findings.


RESULTS
Subjects were divided into those with localized (n = 11) and disseminated (n = 6) disease. In localized disease, the pathologic subtypes were hyaline vascular type in eight and plasma cell type in three. Radiologic studies showed a single large mass in six and a single dominant mass with small satellite nodules in five. Central low attenuation was seen in two cases, and calcification was seen in three cases. Regional lymphadenopathy was found in five cases. In disseminated disease, there were three hyaline vascular types and three plasma cell types. Radiologic findings included diffuse lymphadenopathy (n = 6), hepatosplenomegaly (n = 5), ascites (n = 3), and thickening of the retroperitoneal fascia (n = 3). Disseminated disease revealed symptoms and abnormal laboratory findings (anemia, hypoalbuminemia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate/C-reactive protein, etc.) more frequently than localized disease and showed poor prognosis.


CONCLUSIONS
There are two distinctive types of radiologic manifestations in Castleman disease of the abdomen: localized and disseminated. The localized type usually shows single or multiple discrete masses, and the disseminated type frequently shows nonspecific organomegaly and lymphadenopathy.
Department of Radiology and Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
T J
TJ
Kim
J K
JK
Han
Y H
YH
Kim
T K
TK
Kim
B I
BI
Choi
D000005:Abdomen / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005871:Castleman Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed