Castleman's disease and HIV infection in Australia

To describe, retrospectively, the Australian experience of multi-centric Castleman's disease (MCD) in the setting of HIV infection, specifically with the advent of HAART, and newer chemotherapeutic agents.

HIV-infected patients diagnosed with MCD since 1994, were identified from three major HIV treatment centres in Australia. Demographic and disease characteristic variables were collated by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

Eleven patients were identified with MCD. Medial follow up was 46 (18-57) months. All had CD4 cell counts less than 500 cells/microL. All but one patient was receiving HAART at the time of diagnosis. Nine of the 11 patients had Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and two patients also developed non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL). All patients received chemotherapy for MCD. The response rate from Chemotherapy was 64%. Only two patients achieved sustained remissions. The median survival was 21.9 (1-52) months. The mortality was 45% from MCD and its related complications.

MCD in HIV infected patients is a rare and life-threatening disorder. There is limited recent information on optimal treatment for MCD. MCD in our series appeared to be a chemo-responsive disease. In our experience, treatment with liposomal anthracycline was associated with good response rates and acceptable toxicity in several patients, and therefore merits further exploration to establish its role. Treatment in the future may concentrate on novel agents such as anti-interleukin 6, anti-CD20 antibodies, thalidomide and viral ablation.