Castleman's disease as an uncommon cause of a neck mass

The detection of Castleman's disease in the neck is uncommon. However, it must be included in the differential diagnosis of a neck mass, together with other lymphoproliferative disorders or thyroid diseases. In 1999, three patients underwent resection of a neck mass of uncertain cytological diagnosis. Frozen-section examinations and immunohistochemical studies using primary antibodies directed against B- and T-cell markers were performed. Very similar features were observed in all cases and the diagnosis of Castleman's disease was based on Frizzera's histological morphological criteria; all cases were of the hyaline vascular type. After surgical resection, the patients remained symptom-free after 51, 50 and 46 months, respectively, without clinical or radiographic signs of local or diffuse recurrence. Surgical removal of a mass of unknown origin located in the central part of the neck is mandatory because it allows a correct diagnosis to be made and is curative when the disease is limited to one site.