Patient: Female, 34-year-old
Final Diagnosis: Unicentric Castleman’s disease
Symptoms: Hematuria
Medication:—
Clinical Procedure: Laparoscopic approach of a para-duodenal retroperitoneal mass
Specialty: Surgery
Objective:
Rare disease
Background:
Castleman’s disease is a benign, lymphoproliferative disorder that is extremely uncommon. Multiple classifications have been described; however, the exact etiology remains unknown. Preoperative diagnosis is not common, as imaging cannot distinguish the disease from other processes, and biopsy is insufficient to provide the architecture of the mass, which is necessary for diagnosis. Unicentric retroperitoneal disease has been described, and management includes complete resection of the mass, which is usually curative.
Case Report:
A 34-year-old previously healthy woman presented with hematuria. Evaluation revelated a retroperitoneal mass that was abutting the duodenum and head of the pancreas. Biopsy failed to provide a diagnosis, so laparoscopic resection was performed. Postoperative diagnosis was consistent with unicentric Castleman’s disease.
Conclusions:
Castleman’s disease is an uncommon process, and one that is difficult to diagnose. Unicentric Castleman’s disease should always be a differential diagnosis of solitary retroperitoneal masses that are well-demarcated, as treatment can be curative with surgical resection.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.