68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-FDG in Castleman Disease

68Ga-DOTATATE and 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT in a Patient with Castleman Disease of the Retroperitoneum

This is a case of a 42-year-old man with recurrent symptoms of dizziness and a newly found retroperitoneal mass with no 131I-MIBG uptake who was referred for restaging with 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT and local 68Ga-pentixafor PET/CT. The examinations both showed intense radioactivity uptake in the retroperitoneal mass and no abnormal uptake in the right adrenal nodule. Two lesions showed distinct properties of radioactivity uptake, which suggested the possibility of different sources. A postoperative pathological test revealed that the morphology and immunohistochemistry of the retroperitoneal mass was found to be consistent with Castleman disease, and the right adrenal gland was normal tissue.

Castleman disease masquerading as a paraganglioma showing uptake on DOTATATE PET

A man in his 50s presented with shortness of breath and was found to have a large paracaval mass, which on further evaluation with CT, showed a large heterogeneously enhancing mass lesion adjacent to right renal hilum. His 24-hour urinary metanephrines and nor-metanephrines were normal. In view of location and features on CT, paraganglioma was considered as a possibility. A 68Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/CT demonstrated avidity in the lesion with maximum standardised uptake value of 16.5. He underwent right laparoscopic converted to open mass excision along with nephrectomy. Histopathological examination was suggestive of hyaline vascular Castleman disease.

Castleman disease of the pancreas mimicking pancreatic malignancy on 68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography: A case report

BACKGROUND

Castleman disease is an uncommon nonclonal lymphoproliferative disorder, which frequently mimics both benign and malignant abnormalities in several regions. Depending on the number of lymph nodes or regions involved, Castleman disease (CD) varies in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. It rarely occurs in the pancreas alone without any distinct clinical feature and tends to be confused with pancreatic paraganglioma (PGL), neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), and primary tumors, thus impeding proper diagnosis and treatment.

CASE SUMMARY

A 28-year-old woman presented with a lesion on the neck of the pancreas, detected by ultrasound during a health examination. Physical examination and laboratory findings were normal. The mass showed hypervascularity on enhanced computed tomography (CT), significantly increased ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on positron emission tomography (PET)/CT, and slightly increased somatostatin receptor (SSTR) expression on ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT, suggesting no distant metastases and subdiagnoses such as pancreatic PGL, NET, or primary tumor. Intraoperative pathology suggested lymphatic hyperplasia, and only simple tumor resection was performed. The patient was diagnosed with the hyaline vascular variant of CD, which was confirmed by postoperative immunohistochemistry. The patient was discharged successfully, and no recurrence was observed on regular review.

CONCLUSION

High glucose uptake and slightly elevated SSTR expression are potentially new diagnostic features of CD of the pancreas.

Unicentric Castleman disease was misdiagnosed as pancreatic mass: A case report

BACKGROUND

Castleman’s disease (CD) is a lymphatic proliferative disorder of unknown cause and is rarely seen clinically. It has been divided into unicentric and multicentric types. Unicentric CD (UCD) occurs as a solitary enlarged mass and mediastinal lymph nodes are the most common site. Surgical excision has proven to be curative for UCD. Multicentric CD (MCD) appears as a systemic disease with peripheral lymphadenopathy. MCD had a poor response to surgery and monoclonal antibodies with rituximab have become a research hotspot.

CASE SUMMARY

A 44-year-old woman presented with a pancreatic mass during routine physical examination. She had no obvious symptoms, such as fever, abdominal pain, abdominal distension, or jaundice. Ultrasound examination indicated a hypoechoic mass between the body of the pancreas, left lobe of the liver and stomach. It had a clear boundary, irregular shape, uneven echo, and no obvious blood flow signals. To clarify the diagnosis, contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination was performed, which showed a benign pancreatic lesion. Neuroendocrine or solid pseudopapillary tumor was a possible diagnosis. The patient underwent further contrast-enhanced computed tomography and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, which were suggestive of solid pseudopapillary tumor or neuroendocrine tumor. All the examinations failed to give a definitive diagnosis, and the patient underwent surgery. The final pathological and immunohistochemical results showed that the mass was CD.

CONCLUSION

This case highlights when lymphadenopathy is encountered clinically, CD should be considered and a biopsy should be performed.

Castleman's disease masquerading as pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour

Castleman's disease (CD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder. This case report, to the best of our knowledge, is the first report of CD simulating a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour . The patient was a 58-year-old woman who initially presented with bilateral iritis and underwent investigation for possible systemic rheumatological disease. CT of the chest demonstrated an incidental finding of a well-demarcated retropancreatic mass. As the mass was found to enhance on DOTATATE (tetraazacyclododecanetetraacetic acid-DPhe1-Tyr3-octreotate) positron emission tomography, a diagnosis of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour was made. The patient underwent an open distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy. Histopathological examination revealed the unexpected diagnosis of hyaline vascular CD of a lymph node posterior to the pancreas. After 2 years of follow-up, there is no evidence of disease recurrence.