OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment of localized Castleman's disease (CD), and review the literatures to improve the diagnosis and management of this disease.

METHODSThe clinical symptoms, histopathology, CT, MRI findings and results of surgery in 20 patients with localized CD were evaluated retrospectively.

RESULTSThe average age of the patients was 37.7 years. The lesions were located in the retroperitoneal space (9 cases), mediastinum (7 cases), pelvic cavity (1 case), neck (1 case), upper arm (1 case), and axillary (1 case). All patients underwent surgical resection, including 9 cases for retroperitoneal resection (6 cases had open operation and 3 cases laparoscopic resection) and 7 cases for mediastinal resection (open operation in 5 cases and thoracoscopic resection in 2 cases). The Castleman's disease was confirmed by histopathology. There were hyaline vascular type of CD in 17 cases, plasma cell type of CD in 1 case, and mixed cellularity type of CD in 2 cases. The duration of follow-up ranged from 12 to 165 months for 16 cases. Among them 15 patients were alive without recurrence, and 1 case had recurrence in the primary site at 47 months after the operation.

CONCLUSIONSPatients with Castleman's disease have no typical clinical symptoms and have normal laboratory results. The majority of patients are of hyaline vascular type of the disease. Imaging examination is helpful to diagnosis, and the final diagnosis depends on pathologic examination. Complete surgical resection of the tumor is the best treatment for localized Castleman's disease.