Introduction
Castleman disease (CD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder of
uncertain etiology, broadly classified as uncentric CD (UCD) and
multicentric CD (MCD). Although thorax is the most common site of UCD,
but overall CD a very rare cause of an intrathoracic mass and is usually
overlooked as a differential diagnosis of an intrathoracic or
mediastinal mass.1
Localised Castleman disease of the thorax is known to be quite
hypervascular and in close proximity to adjacent organs or great vessels
(pulmonary artery or aorta) and often densely adherent to these
surrounding structures.2,3 When overlooked, such
tumours may pose surgical challenge (incomplete resection or profuse
bleeding) and may lead to adverse outcome. Hence, identifying Castleman
disease of thorax preoperatively and careful surgical planning may
provide good outcome post-operatively.
We present a case of posterior mediastinal mass detected incidentally in
a 53-year old female that was resected successfully via left
posterior-lateral thoracotomy with a preliminary possibility of
neurogenic tumour/ inflammatory myofibroblastic masss, but was finally
diagnosed on histopathology of surgically resected mass as CD, hyaline
vascular variant (HVV).