Castleman’s disease /kas′əlmənz/ [Benjamin Castleman, American pathologist, 1906–1982] , a condition resembling lymphoma but without recognizable malignant cells, characterized by isolated masses of lymphoid tissue and lymph node hyperplasia, usually in the abdominal or mediastinal area. One variety has numerous small germinal centers near blood vessels with vascular proliferation; a second type consists of sheets of plasma cells and fewer but larger germinal centers. The disease may be either benign or premalignant and overlap with autoimmune diseases. Also called benign giant lymph node hyperplasia.
