FDG PET/CT appearance of multicentric Castleman's disease mimicking lymphoma

Abstract

We report a case of a multicentric form of Castleman's disease with multiple lymph nodes showing intense FDG uptake on whole body scan mimicking non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In this report, the patient had multiple cervical, mediastinal, hilar, retroperitoneal and abnormal lymph nodes in the groin. (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography was performed before tissue sampling. (18)F-FDG/PET demonstrated multiple areas of increased uptake in cervical, mediastinal, hilar, retroperitoneal and groin lymph nodes, suggesting a generalized disease of the lymphatic system including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The final diagnosis is based on the histopathological findings of the material obtained from the cervical lymphadenectomy. The histological diagnosis was multicentric plasma cell variant of Castleman's disease. (18)F fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan helped to identify the lymph nodes involved throughout the whole body, but did not help to differentiate non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The clinical conclusions and PET/CT findings are described in this report.