[Castleman's disease in the cardiophrenic angle resected thoracoscopically; report of a case]

The patient was 55-years-old woman. She was referred to our hospital for an abnormal mass on a chest X-ray. She was pointed out it 12 years ago, but left it unattended. Therefore, we could observe the development of Castleman's disease for 12 years. An enhanced computed tomography showed a irregularly enhanced mass in the right cardiophrenic angle. We diagnosed as pleural tumor and performed the video assisted operation. The mass was growing from the anterior mediastinum. It was successfully resected thoracoscopically. The mass was elastic and hard, and 6.0 x 4.5 x 3.4 cm in size. The histopathological diagnosis was Castleman's disease, hyaline vascular type. We think that the tumor of Castleman's disease in the cadiophrenic angle may be resected by the thoracoscopic procedure with minimal thoracotomy.