Clinical presentation of cryptococcosis: an analysis of 101 cases / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the clinical features of cryptococcosis. Method The clinical manifestations of 101 patients with cryptococcosis were comprehensively analyzed using clinical statistical method. Results Among the 101 patients, 68 were male and 33 were female, 94.1% cases were chronic or sub chronic in onset. Headache and fever were the most common symptoms, over 85.0% patients got headache and(or) fever, vomiting (71.3%) was the second common, and the confusion, convulsion, seizure, visual and hearing damage are also relatively common. Nearly 70.0% patients had intracranial hypertention. Among the 58 patients who received brain CT scaning, 40 showed abnormal changes. All of 8 patients who received brain magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) showed abnormal changes. And 97 cases were positive in cerebrospinal fluid ink stain, 2 cases were negative in ink stain but positive in cerebrospinal fluid culture, and 2 were diagnosed after brain biopsy or brain surgery. Most cases had been falsely diagnosed as many other diseases. Conclusions Most patients with cryptococcosis should be chronic or sub chronic in onset, and their clinical features, cerebrospinal fluid routine and biochemical test, or CT and MRI are lack of specificity. The finding of Cryptococcus in cerebrospinal fluid culture and brain biopsy should be the golden standard of diagnosis.