Castleman disease

noun

Cas·​tle·​man disease ˈka-səl-mən- 

variants or Castleman's disease

ˈka-səl-mənz- 

: a rare disease of the lymphatic system that is marked by nonmalignant overgrowth of lymphoid tissue and lymph node enlargement and that occurs either in a localized or a systemic form

Note: The localized form of Castleman disease affects a single lymph node or single group of lymph nodes (as in the chest or abdomen) and is often asymptomatic. The systemic form affects multiple groups of lymph nodes and causes flulike symptoms (such as fatigue, fever, and weight loss), edema, neuropathy, life-threatening infection, enlargement of the liver or spleen, or kidney dysfunction.

called also angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia, giant lymph node hyperplasia

Word History

Etymology

after Benjamin Castleman †1982 U.S. pathologist, principal author of a description of the disease

Note: The disease was described by Benjamin Castleman, Lalla Iverson, and V. Pardo Menendez in "Localized mediastinal lymph-node hyperplasia resembling thymoma," Cancer, vol. 9, issue 4 (July-August, 1956), pp. 822-30.

First Known Use

1978, in the meaning defined above