A Case of Cryptococcosis involving Lung and CNS without Underlying Disease

폐와 중추신경계를 침범한 효모균증(Cryptococcosis) 1예

Cryptococcosis is a systemic mycosis that most often involves the lungs and central nervous system and, less frequently, the skin, skeletal system, and prostate gland. Cryptococcus neoformans, the causative organism, is a yeastlike round or oval fungus, 4 to $6{\mu}m$ in diameter, which is surrounded by a polysaccharide capsule and reproduces by budding and found in soil and other environmental areas, especially those contaminated by pigeon droppings. Humans and animals acquire infection after inhalation of aerosolized spores. Condition or factors that predispose to cryptococcosis include corticosteroid therapy, lymphoreticular malignancies, HIV infection, and sarcoidosis etc. We discribed a case of cryptococcosis involving lung and CNS coincidently without specific underlying disease and the literature on subject were reviewed. A fifty-six year-old previously healthy female presented with headache of 3 months of duration. She had no history suggesting immunologic suppression and we could not find any abnormal laboratory findings including blood sugar, serum immunoglobulin and complement level, HIV antibody, and T cell subsets. Chest roentgenogram and CT scan showed a solitary soft tissue mass in LUL with distal pneumonitis. Brain MRI showed granulomatous lesion in cerebellum and parasagittal cortex of right frontal lobe. The diagnosis was made by bronchoscopic brushing cytology, transthoracic fine needle aspiration, and sputum KOH mount and culture. She was treated 6 weeks course of Amphotericin B and switched to oral fluconazole therapy for 3 months. Her symptoms and X-ray findings were improved gradually and she is now under regular clinical follow up.

저자들은 내원 3개월 전부터 발생한 두통을 주소로 내원하여 검사결과 폐와 중추신경계를 동시에 침범한 효모균증으로 진단된 56세 여자환자에서 amphotericin B로 6주간 치료한 후 fluconazole 200mg/day로 전환하여 3개월간 경구 투여하여, 증상 및 흉부 방사선 소견의 호전과 함께 뇌척수액 추적 검사상 호전되고 두부 전산화 단층촬영상 특이 소견은 발견하지 못한 1례를 경험하였기에 문헌고찰과 함께 이에 보고한다.