How Is Castleman Disease Staged
A staging system is used to describe how advanced a cancer is. In the case of Castleman disease, which is not a cancer, there is no formal staging. But it is important to classify the disease as either localized/unicentric (affects only 1 lymph node) or multicentric/systemic (affects 2 or more lymph nodes in different parts of the body and may also affect other internal organs). The doctors will order tests to determine this, usually a chest x-ray and CT scan or MRI of the chest and abdomen. A gallium scan might also be helpful.