Castleman’s disease is a lymphatic disease that causes hyperplasia (overgrowth) of your lymph nodes and lymphatic tissue. It is also referred to as giant lymph node hyperplasia and angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia.
Castelman’s disease is very much like lymphoma, just minus the cancer cells. As such, this health condition is not a cancer. However, it can develop into lymphoma.
The lymphatic system is part of your immune system, wherein different types of cells work in concert to fend off infections and battle some forms of cancer. Lymphatic tissue and lymph nodes are widely strewn throughout your body. So, Casteleman’s disease hyperplasia can occur just about anywhere, but it most often occurs in the chest and abdomen area.
When Castleman’s disease causes hyperplasia in an isolated group of lymph nodes and lymphatic tissue area it is referred to as localized or unicentric. The symptoms of this type of lymphatic disease depends on the effect its mere size has on surrounding organs. Your enlarged lymph nodes may cause no symptoms or symptoms like:
- breathing difficulty
- abdominal pain, pressure
On the other hand, when Castleman’s disease causes hyperplasia to more than one group of lymph nodes or lymphatic tissue area, then it’s known as multicentric. Multicentric Castlemans disease is a much more serious health condition because it compromises your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to serious infectious diseases.
Some of the symptoms caused by multicentric Castleman’s disease are:
- fever
- fatigue
- anemia
- weight loss
- night sweats
- enlarged liver or spleen
- elevated antibodies level
- nerve damage caused paresthesia
Multicentric form is a major health concern if you suffer from human immunodeficiency virus.
Multicentric type of Castleman’s disease is associated with infection by human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) infection, the same virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma. Other conditions that could be associated with your multicentric Castleman’s disease are:
- pemphigus
- amyloidoisis
- viral hepatitis
- multiple myeloma
- myasthenia gravis
- peripheral neuropathy
- autoimmune hemolytic anemia
Your Castleman disease symptom relief treatment may involve:
- corticosteroids
- immunotherapy
- antiviral drugs to kill HHP-8 virus
- immunomodulating agents ~ thalidomide, interferon
- radiation therapy, chemotherapy to kill hyperplasia cells
- surgical removal of hyperplasia caused lymph nodes & lymphatic tissue