[Castleman's disease]

In this paper we have presented five patients in whom the diagnosis of Castleman's disease was established. Although it was described for the first time in 1956, the etiology of this lymphoproliferative disorder is still unknown, and the life expectancy is uncertain. Lymph nodes and spleen were analysed with the standard histological procedures and hyaline-vascular or plasma type of Castleman's disease was diagnosed. It is known that plasma-cellular type, especially its systemic presentation, can transform into malignant lymphoma or Kaposi sarcoma. Hyaline-vascular type was considered as a localized, benign lesion until malignant proliferation of the stromal cells were found in patients with this disorder. Out of five patients plasma-cellular type was diagnosed in three of them. In two of these three, malignant lymphoma appeared. Out of two patients with hyaline-vascular type one has developed follicular dendritic cell tumor.