Castleman's disease and superior vena cava thrombi: A rare presentation and a review of the literature

Castleman's disease is a clinicopathological entity in which growth of lymp hoid tissue is unregulated. It may present as asymptomatic involvement of o ne lymph node group or as a multicentric disease with systemic symptoms. Un like localized disease, for which surgical excision is curative regardless of the histological type, multicentric disease often necessitates aggressiv e systemic therapy and portends a poor outcome. Superior vena caval thrombo sis is an uncommon manifestation associated with Castleman's disease. We describe a patient with this rare manifestation and present a systematic survey of the disease, based on the current literature.