title: Laparoscopic treatment of abdominal unicentric castleman's disease: a case report and literature review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Castleman's disease is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder of unknown etiology that most commonly presents as a mediastinal nodal mass. It is exceptionally uncommon for Castleman's disease to present in the mesentery and, only 53 cases have ever been described in the literature. Standard treatment for this lymphoproliferative disorder involving a single node is a complete "en bloc" surgical resection which has proven to be a curative approach in almost all cases without recurrence after 20 years of follow up. All 53 reported cases of mesenteric Castleman's disease, except one, were treated with laparotomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report on a case of mesenteric Castleman's disease localized in the mesentery which is the second reported case if its kind and was treated by a laparoscopic-assisted procedure. Our female patient had an uneventful postoperative course and was discharged in the 5thpost-operative day. No signs of recurrence were present as evidenced by physical examination and total body CT scan 24 months after the operation. We compare our case with the other reported cases in which Castleman's disease presented as an isolated mass in the abdomen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although a rare disease, Unicentric Castleman's disease should always be considered when a solid asymptomatic abdominal mass is occasionally presented. The laparoscopic approach (LA) allows for the achievement of better results than open surgery, including a reduction in postoperative pain and length of hospital stay. In cases of masses of an uncertain nature, LA must be considered the last diagnostic tool and the first treatment one.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy. umbertobracale@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9868-0889
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bracale
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pacelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milone
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto Marcello
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Bracale
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sodo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Merola
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine 'F. Magrassi', Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Troiani
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Specialities and Nefrology, University "Federico II" of Naples, Via Pansini, 5, Naples, 80100, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Salvo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005871:Castleman Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods*; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000601:surgery; D008643:Mesentery; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011184:Postoperative Period; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Case report; Castleman’s disease; Laparoscopy; Mesenteric tumor