ABSTRACT
To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis for connective tissue disease (CTD) with cryptococcal meningitis (CM). Methods: Clinical data of 18 patients with CTD complicated with cryptococcal meningitis diagnosed by Rheumatology and Immunology Department, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University from January 2000 to January 2017, were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The common symptoms of CTD patients with CM were headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. Patients with severe clinical manifestations, such as convulsions and disturbance of consciousness, all died. Logistic regression analysis showed that disturbance of consciousness and decreased peripheral blood lymphocyte count might be the related factors of poor prognosis of CTD patients with CM (P<0.05). The mortality rate of CTD with CM was 61.11%, and the effective rate of treatment for this disease was 38.89%. Conclusion: CTD patients with cryptococcal meningitis have a high risk of death. Severe clinical symptoms, such as disturbance of consciousness and lower peripheral blood lymphocyte count, are associated with its poor prognosis.
Subject(s)
Humans , Connective Tissue Diseases , Fever , Meningitis, Cryptococcal , Retrospective Studies , VomitingABSTRACT
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by thickening of the skin and organ fibrosis.Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of arthritis with long-term inflammation of the axial joints.Previous studies presented 5 cases of concomitant AS and SSc.However,there was only 1 patient of those 5 cases complaining of muscle weakness while all patients had approximately normal creatine kinase (CK).Here we reported a young male who met the criteria for SSc and AS while showing significantly elevated CK.Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing results indicated the genetic susceptibility to these two diseases.The patient was prescribed prednisone (30 mg/d)and cydophosphamide.After 2 months,the patient's skin became soft with normal CK.