MULTICENTRIC CASTLEMANS DISEASE IN A CHILD WITH PROMINENT THYMIC INVOLVEMENT - A CASE-REPORT AND BRIEF REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

A fatal case of multicentric Castleman's disease (giant lymph node hyp erplasia) with prominent thymic involvement in a 12-yr-old girl is pre sented. Multicentric Castleman's disease is a poorly understood lympho proliferative disorder generally occurring in elderly individuals. To our knowledge, this is the first case in the English literature of mul ticentric Castleman's disease in a child. Thymic involvement has not b een described previously in the multicentric variant or in a child. Be sides the characteristic findings of Castleman's disease (CD), such as hyaline-vascular follicles and a prominent plasmacytic infiltrate, th e thymus was also marked by prominent epithelial hyperplasia in the me dulla. The clinical and pathologic findings are presented with a revie w of the literature, particularly thymic involvement in CD and CD in t he pediatric population.