Unicentric Castleman’s disease involving central nervous system - plasma cell type: A rare entity

Castleman’s disease (CD) is a rare disease primarily involving lymph nodes and lymphatic system. Other synonyms used for the Castleman’s disease are giant lymph node hyperplasia, and angio-follicular lymph node hyperplasia (AFH). CD is not a true cancer and is a lympho-proliferative disorder which means there is an abnormal overgrowth of cells of the lymphatic system that is similar in many ways to lymphomas (cancers of lymph nodes). Even though CD is not officially a true cancer, one form of this disease (known as multi-centric Castleman’s disease) acts very much like lymphoma. In fact we can call it as premalignant condition as many people with this disease eventually develop lymphomas. Multi-centric CD is more common in people infected with HIV. In recent years, it’s become clear that another virus, known as human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) or Kaposi sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV), is often found in the lymph node cells of people with multi-centric CD. In fact, HHV-8 is found in the lymph nodes of nearly all CD patients who are HIV positive. We present a case of unicentric plasma cell type of Castleman’s disease involving central nervous system (CNS) or brain parenchyma in a young male patient which is a rare occurrence.