Disseminated opportunistic infections masquerading as central nervous system malignancies

Abstract

Central nervous system manifestations are not only rare but extremely challenging to diagnose in patients with disseminated opportunistic infections. These CNS presentations can be very non-specific. On rare occasions, they can present as space-occupying lesions raising suspicions of primary or metastatic tumors. In this manuscript, we report a series of three cases of disseminated opportunistic infections with space-occupying lesions in the brains that are extremely challenging to diagnose. We are reporting a series of three cases of disseminated opportunistic infections with intracranial space-occupying lesions that were extremely challenging to diagnose; two patients with disseminated toxoplasmosis and one with disseminated nocardiosis. The clinicopathologic findings, radiological studies, and important diagnostic tests are discussed along with a review of the literature.

Keywords

• Toxoplasmosis
• Nocardiosis
• Encephalitis
• Brain tumor
• Immunocompromised