Castleman's disease in a child presenting with a partly mineralized solitary meningeal mass.

We report a case of solitary intracranial childhood Castleman's disease (CD) presenting with a sudden onset of partial seizures due to a meningeal and cortical mass lesion. The patient was a previously healthy 8-year-old girl who developed a new onset of simple partial seizures with motor signs. On physical examination, she was neurologically intact. Other findings included low-grade fever, mild microcytic anemia and lymphopenia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed a left posterior parietal, partly mineralized, contrast-enhancing meningeal mass with cortical invasion and adjacent white matter edema. A complete surgical resection of the dural-based component and a subtotal resection of the adherent, invasive cortical lesion were performed. Pathohistology and flow cytometry of the dural-based lesion disclosed a hyaline-vascular type of CD with striking proliferation of polyclonal B lymphocytes, scattered plasma cells and extensive multifocal cortical mineralization. At the 6-month follow-up, the patient was seizure free on antiepileptics and had returned to normal daily activities. MRI showed no residual lesion, and a workup for systemic disease was negative. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel