Sjögren′s syndrome secondary to cryptococcal meningoencephalitis: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Objective: To investigate a case of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis (CM) secondary to Sjögren′s syndrome (SS), and to analyze the clinical, pathological features, diagnosis and treatment of the diseases combined with literature review. Methods: Clinical data of 1 case of CM secondary to SS patient were collected, and literatures online were reviewed. Results: The main clinical manifestation consisted of headache, fever and intracranial hypertension. CM was confirmed by cerebrospinal fluid ink stain smear, but the patient still died of complication of amphotericin B treatment. Literature review indicated 9%-18% CM may had a history of autoimmune diseases. Headache because of increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure ocuured in 38%-100%. The efficacy of amphotericin B combined with fluorocytosine in recommended treatment was not satisfactory, and mortality was high (5%-42%). Conclusions: The clinical manifestation of CM secondary to autoimmune diseases is not typical, the abnormal increase of cerebrospinal fluid pressure is its characteristic. The efficacy of treatment is not satisfactory, and the mortality rate is high.

Keywords

• |sjögren′s syndrome|autoimmune diseases|cryptococcus neoformans|meningoencephalitis