Abstract
Castleman's disease is a lymphoproliferative disorder that is rarely seen in childhood. A case of Castleman's disease in an 11-year-old girl is reported. In July 2002, when the patient visited a nearby doctor for treatment of a common cold, she was found to have a persistently high value of CRP. After a detailed examination, which failed to identify the cause of the high CRP value, the patient was referred to our pediatric department in August 2003 for further examination. The result of examination showed a low-grade fever, a CRP value of 6.25 mg/dl, an ESR value of 60 mm/h and microcytic anemia. In a PET examination, a hot spot image was observed in the epigastric region. An abdominal operation was performed to remove the tumor. The pathological diagnosis was Castleman's disease (hyaline vascular type). This case indicated that PET is useful for whole-body examination in patients with chronic inflammation of unknown cause and that Castleman's disease should be considered in differential diagnoses of chronic inflammation.
