Resection of Castleman's Disease in the Mediastinum using Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery: Report of Two Cases

Abstract

Castleman's disease, otherwise known as benign lymph node hyperplasia, most commonly occurs in the mediastinum. We report two cases of Castleman's disease in the mediastinum, which we successfully resected using video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). Patient 1 was a 21-year-old woman referred to us after a routine chest x-ray showed an abnormal shadow in the right upper mediastinum. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed a round mass, 50×42mm in size, in the upper and middle mediastinum. We resected the tumor completely by VATS, and it was diagnosed as the hyaline-vascular type of Castleman's disease . Patient 2 was a 63-year-old woman in whom a chest x-ray, taken during an admission to the dermatology ward for oral erosion, showed an abnormal shadow in the right lower mediastinum. Further examinations suggested a diagnosis of paraneoplastic pemphigus. Chest CT showed a round mass, 60×40mm in size, in the posterior mediastinum. We resected the tumor completely by VATS, and it was diagnosed as the hyaline-vascular type of Castleman's disease.