Cervical posterior triangle castleman's disease in a child - case report & literature review

Abstract

The most prominent sites of Castleman's disease (CD) are the thorax (mediastinum or lung hilum) and abdomen. It rarely occurs in the cervical area and only one case has been reported in the posterior triangle of the neck. We report a new case of cervical posterior triangle CD in a child. A 9-year-old boy presented with an indolent mass in the posterior triangle (level V) on the left side of his neck for more than six months. Complete excision was undertaken and the histopathological diagnosis was CD of the hyaline-vascular type. At the 3-year follow up, there were no signs of recurrence. The etiologies of persistent cervical lymphadenopathy in children vary. Though it is very rare, we should keep in mind that CD is possible. In addition, CD can be either localized (unicentric) or diffuse (multicentric). The treatment and prognosis of these two are quite different. Therefore, for any case of CD, systemic evaluation is recommended for a precise diagnosis and proper management.