Castleman's disease in the head of the pancreas: report of a rare clinical entity and current perspective on diagnosis, treatment, and outcome

Castleman's disease in the head of the pancreas: report of a rare clinical entity and current perspective on diagnosis, treatment, and outcome

World Journal of Surgical Oncology, November 2007

18028547

Hongbei Wang, Rosemary L Wieczorek, Michael E Zenilman, Fidelina Desoto-Lapaix, Bimal C Ghosh, Wilbur B Bowne

Castleman's disease of the pancreas is a very rare condition that may resemble more common disease entities as well as pancreatic cancer. Here we report the case of a 58-year-old African American male with an incidentally discovered lesion in the head of the pancreas. The specimen from his pancreaticoduodectomy contained a protuberant, encapsulated mass, exhibiting microscopic features most consistent with localized/unicentric Castleman's disease. These included florid follicular hyperplasia with mantle/marginal zone hyperplasia along with focal progressive transformation of germinal centers admixed with involuted germinal centers. To date, eight cases of Castleman's disease associated with the pancreas have been described in the world literature. We report the first case of unicentric disease situated within the head of the pancreas. In addition, we discuss the diagnostic dilemma Castleman's disease may present to the pancreatic surgeon and review current data on pathogenesis, treatment, and outcome.