Options For Treating Castleman Disease

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy utilizes beams of powerful concentrated light to destroy clumps of accumulated cells. Most of the time, radiation is used to treat cancer alongside chemotherapy, however, there are numerous other uses for it as well, including the treatment of Castleman disease. Radiation can utilize energy from protons, x-rays, or other types of energy. During radiation, concentrated high energy beams of light come from an apparatus outside of the body that accurately aims the beams onto the body at a precise position. The way radiation therapy works to destroy the excessive cells in the lymph nodes characteristic of Castleman disease is by demolishing the genetic material that manages how the cells divide and multiply. Radiation therapy is fairly accurate at its targeting, however, healthy cells are still destroyed in the process. In some cases, where the lymph nodes affected are in an inconvenient area in a unicentric Castleman disease patient, radiation therapy can be used before excision surgery to shrink the size of the lymph node before accessing and removing it. This can make the surgery to remove the lymph node less complicated for situations in which they are located in odd places.

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