A Case of Cryptococcal Pleural Effusion Developed during the Management of Autoimmune Hepatitis

Park, Sang Gyun; Chang, Bong Yeol; Kim, Gun Young; Kim, Young Jae; Lee, Yong Ung; Kim, Kwi Wan; Kim, Jong Jun

doi:1990.37.2.216

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 37(2); 1990 > Article

Case report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 1990;37(2):216-220.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1990.37.2.216 Published online June 1, 1990.

A Case of Cryptococcal Pleural Effusion Developed during the Management of Autoimmune Hepatitis

Sang Gyun Park, Bong Yeol Chang, Gun Young Kim, Young Jae Kim, Yong Ung Lee, Kwi Wan Kim, Jong Jun Kim

Department of Internal Medicine, Presbyterian Medical Center, Chon-ju, Korea

자가 면역성 간염 치료중 병발된 흉막 Cryptococcosis 1예

박상균, 장봉렬, 김건영, 김영재, 이용웅, 김귀완, 김종준

Abstract

With the increased use of corticosteroids, immunosuppressive agents and the prolonged survival of patients with certain maligant disease, infection by cryptococcus neoformans has received increased attention. While the respiratory tract is the usual portal of entry of the organism, relatively few reports of pulmonary cryptococcal disease have appeared in the literature and pleural infection appears to be recognized even less commonly. Cryptococcal infection must be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with pleural effusion, especially patients with serious underlying disease treated with corticosteroid. We describe a patient with autoimmune hepatitis for long term corticosteroid therapy who developed bilateral pleural effusion. The diagnosis of cryptococcosis was made by pleural biopsy and pleural effusion culture. So we reported this case with brief review of literatures.