Clinical features and antifungal therapeutic effects of 154 patients with cryptococcal meningitis / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the clinical features and antifungal therapeutic effects in nonacquired immune deficiency syndrome(AIDS)patients with cryptococcal meningitis. Methods One hundred and fifty-four non-AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis admitted to Huashan Hospital, Fudan University from 1997 to 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. Clinical characteristics, initial antifungal therapies and outcome of these patients were analyzed. Continuous variables were analyzed using t test and categorical variables were compared by X~2 test or Fisher's exact test. Kaplan-Meier survival curves of different therapies were compared with log-rank test. Results Fifty-one patients (33.12%)had one or more predisposing factors. Headache, fever, meningeal irritation, vomiting and altered mental status were common clinical symptoms and signs during the course of diseases. The positive rates of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF)smear, CSF culture and detection of CSF cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide antigen were 88.44%,78.95%and 100.00%,respectively.Twelve cases were excluded because treatment durations were less than 7 days, including 9 died,2 discharged against medical advice due to illness exacerbation and 1 lost after against medical advice discharge. The remaining 142 patients were evaluated for therapeutic effects. The effective rates in amphotericin B (AmB)group, fluconazole group and AmB plus fluconazole group were 78.3%(36/46),33.3%(8/24)and 76.0%(38/50),respectively. The therapeutic effects in AmB group and AmB plus fluconazole group were superior to fluconazole group(X~2=13.6354,12.5509;P＜0.01).Eleven patients were lost during 1-year follow-up. The attributable and overall mortality in the remaining 143 patients were 19.58% and 28.67%,respectively.The 1-year survival rates in AmB group and AmB plus fluconazole group were significantly higher than that in fluconazole group. Conclusions The mortality of non-AIDS cryptococcal meningitis is still high,which is closely correlated with initial antifungal therapies. AmB alone or combined with flucytosine is related to both higher successful response and higher survival rate, while the efficacy of initial fluconazole alone or combined with flucytosine is poor.