title: The clinicopathological behaviour and surgical treatment of abdominal Castleman's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Castleman's disease, a rare atypical lymphoproliferative disorder of the lymphoid tissue with unknown cause, remains a diagnostic challenge. This study was conducted to analyse the clinicopathological behaviour and reasonable surgical treatment for patients with abdominal Castleman's disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of seven patients with abdominal Castleman's disease were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients comprised two men and five women, and their median age was 42.3 (range 29-53) years. The main clinical manifestation was an abdominal mass or an enlargement of the retroperitoneal lymph node. Other clinical manifestations included anaemia, loss of body weight and hypoalbuminaemia. The mean size of the tumour was 5.5 (range 4.0-8.0) cm. Postoperatively, all the patients were diagnosed with a hyaline vascular type of the disease, and had localised manifestations of the disease. All seven patients underwent complete surgical resection, two of whom also received adjuvant irregular chemotherapy (CHOP) and steroids postoperatively. All the patients survived, with no evidence of recurrence. One patient had survived for more than two years, four patients for more than three years, and two patients for more than five years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abdominal Castleman's disease is difficult to diagnose preoperatively, and surgical excision remains the treatment of choice, especially for localised disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou City 325000, Zhejiang Province, China. slhan88@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: X X
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: X F
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001706:Biopsy; D005871:Castleman Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents