Imaging in multicentric Castleman's disease.

Abstract

Multicentric Castleman[']s disease (MCD) is an uncommon lymphoproliferative disorder that presents with fevers, anaemia and multifocal lymphadenopathy and nowadays is most commonly diagnosed in individuals infected with HIV-1. CT scan findings are not sufficiently reliable to establish a diagnosis of MCD which requires histological confirmation. Newer imaging techniques have therefore been studied in patients with HIV-associated MCD in an attempt to improve diagnostic accuracy. Preliminary findings suggest that FDG PET-CT may assist in the monitoring of disease activity in MCD along with familiar clinical and laboratory tools and the more recently introduced plasma HHV8 DNA viral load measurement.