Castleman's disease masquerading as sigmoid colon tumor and Hodgkin lymphoma.

Abstract

Castleman's disease is a benign lymphoid neoplasm first reported as hyperplasia of mediastinal lymph nodes. Some authors referred to the lesions as isolated tumors, described as a variant of Hodgkin's disease with a possibility of a malignant potential and others proposed that the lymphoid masses were of a hamartomatous nature. Three histologic variants and two clinical types of the disease have been described. The disease may occur in almost any area in which lymph nodes are normally found. The most common locations are thorax (63%), abdomen (11%) and axilla (4%). We report two separate histologic types of Castleman's disease which were rare in the literature, mimicking sigmoid colon tumor and Hodgkin lymphoma. The diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this rare entity is discussed.