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Case report
Invasive Pulmonary Cryptococcal Infection Masquerading as Lung Cancer With Brain Metastases: A Case Report
Chidiebere Peter Echieh
Division of Cardio-thoracic & Vascular surgery, Department of surgery,
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0472-7894
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This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: Cryptococcosis is a global disease problem. Although seen more frequently in the severely immuno-suppressed, it can also be seen in patients without apparent immuno-suppression. Patients with pulmonary Cryptococcosis typically present with cryptococcal pneumonia while brain cryptococcosis present with meningitis.
Case presentation: Here we present our experience in the management of a 33-year-old immunocompetent man, diagnosed of invasive pulmonary Cryptococcal disease with spread to the brain. This case is unique because the patient was previously treated for tuberculosis and presented with typical bronchopulmonary (difficulty in breathing and cough), thoracic (diminished breath sounds and dull percussion notes), extra-thoracic (intra-cranial space occupying lesion) as well as Computed Tommography (CT) Scan features attributable to lung cancer. Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis was made by identification of oval thick-walled yeast on histology of lung biopsy specimen.
Conclusions: We conclude that invasive Cryptococcosis affecting the lung and brain may present with a clinical picture similar to metastatic lung cancer. We recommend routine fungal stains and fungal culture in suspected cases.
Keywords
Invasive Cryptococcal disease, Cryptococcoma, Bronchogenic cancer, case report
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Case report
Invasive Pulmonary Cryptococcal Infection Masquerading as Lung Cancer With Brain Metastases: A Case Report
Chidiebere Peter Echieh
Division of Cardio-thoracic & Vascular surgery, Department of surgery,
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0472-7894
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 23 Sep, 2020
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
Cardiothoracic Surgery
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: Cryptococcosis is a global disease problem. Although seen more frequently in the severely immuno-suppressed, it can also be seen in patients without apparent immuno-suppression. Patients with pulmonary Cryptococcosis typically present with cryptococcal pneumonia while brain cryptococcosis present with meningitis.
Case presentation: Here we present our experience in the management of a 33-year-old immunocompetent man, diagnosed of invasive pulmonary Cryptococcal disease with spread to the brain. This case is unique because the patient was previously treated for tuberculosis and presented with typical bronchopulmonary (difficulty in breathing and cough), thoracic (diminished breath sounds and dull percussion notes), extra-thoracic (intra-cranial space occupying lesion) as well as Computed Tommography (CT) Scan features attributable to lung cancer. Diagnosis of Cryptococcosis was made by identification of oval thick-walled yeast on histology of lung biopsy specimen.
Conclusions: We conclude that invasive Cryptococcosis affecting the lung and brain may present with a clinical picture similar to metastatic lung cancer. We recommend routine fungal stains and fungal culture in suspected cases.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6