J Respir Med Lung Dis | Volume 2, Issue 4 | Research Article | Open Access
Feng-Li Zhou*, Jia-Xin Zhu, Xiao-Ling Zou, Ding-Yun Feng and Tian-Tuo Zhang
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, China
*Correspondance to: Feng-Li Zhou
Fulltext PDFBackground: Pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC) has recently become more frequent.Methods: We collected and analyzed data from 19 cryptococcal pneumonia cases that had been treated in our hospital over the past 10 years and analyzed the clinical features, underlying diseases, past medication, and auxiliary examinations of the patients.
Results: The patients demonstrated various symptoms and underlying diseases, but most of the latter involved diseases associated with immune deficiency. More than half of the patients had no history of exposure to bird droppings or soil. Chest computed tomography scans of the 19 patients revealed single or multiple pulmonary nodular shadows in 11 subjects. Initial misdiagnosis was common. Because of the long course of treatment for PC and the high costs of fluconazole and itraconazole, as long as the renal functions in these patients are normal, the more cost-effective drug amphotericin B can be used as an alternative treatment for PC.Conclusions: This study provides a summary of the characteristics of pulmonary cryptococcosis as a basis for future clinical diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary cryptococcosis.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Cryptococcus neoformans; Diagnosis; Disseminated cryptococcal infection, Imaging; Pathology; Pulmonary cryptococcosis
Zhou F-L, Zhu J-X, Zou X-L, Feng D-Y, Zhang T-T. A Study of 19 Pulmonary Cryptococcosis Cases. J Respir Med Lung Dis. 2017; 2(4): 1024.