Background: Castleman's disease (CD) is a rare disease that has clinical and pathological similarities to lymphoma and is characterized by a high frequency of associated immunological dysfunction. ImmunoglobulinG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a collection of systemic disorders that affect numerous organs and are also referred to as IgG4-associated sclerosing diseases. CD and IgG4-RD are difficult to separate because they may manifest similar commin clinical features.
Case presentation: This case describes a 53-year-old female who, during routine medical check-up, exhibited a progressive increase in serum globulin levels and a simultaneous worsening of anemia symptoms, raising concern for a clonal plasma cell disease such as myeloma. However, bone marrow punctures did not reveal any abnormal plasma cells. Also, serum and urine immunofixation electrophoresis demonstrated no abnormal monoclonal protein bands. In addition, several laboratory findings excluded chronic liver disease, chronic infections caused by bacteria or viruses. Later, we found elevated serum IgG4 levels (10,700 mg/L), and identified multiple enlarged lymph nodes throughout the patient's body. Axillary lymph node aspiration revealed no abnormal lymphocytes, ruling out the possibility of lymphoma. Pathological morphology of the axillary lymph revealed a large number of plasma cells in the lymphatic follicles. In addition, there was a reduction in lymphatic follicle size and apoptosis of the germinal centres. Immunohistochemistry revealed IgG4+/IgG + in > 40% of cells, and more than 100 IgG4 + cells per high powered field (HPF) of specimen. As of now, finding strongly suggested IgG4-RD. This patient was treated with glucocorticoids and various immunosuppressive drugs, such as prednisone, cyclosporine, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine and hydroxychloroquine. Unfortunately, the patient did not recover. Ultimately, idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) was diagnosed in relation to the patient's clinical presentation and laboratory tests, and after combination chemotherapy (VCD: Bortezomib, Cyclophosphamide and Dexamethasone), durable remission was achieved without serious adverse effects. During the follow-up period of one year and ten months, the patient remained stable.
Conclusion: The diagnosis of Castleman must be distinguished from other disorders such as IgG4-RD, malignant lymphoma, reactive hyperplasia of various lymph nodes (mostly caused by viral infections), plasmacytoma, advanced HIV and rheumatic diseases. Besides observing systemic symptoms, laboratory tests such as immunoglobulin levels, complement levels, interleukin levels, and C-reactive protein levels should also be performed in order to determine a diagnosis.
Keywords: Case report; Castleman disease; Histopathological features; IgG4-related disease; PET/CT.
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