Objective: To assess the clinical feature, diagnosis and treatment of primary pulmonary cryptococcosis.
Methods: From 1996 to 2004, 11 patients with primary pulmonary cryptococcosis were surgical treated and confirmed by histologic study. At the same period, 2715 patients with pulmonary abnormalities received surgery. Their clinical data were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Sixty-four percent (7/11) of the patients were symptomatic at the time of diagnosis. All 11 cases were misdiagnosed as lung cancer or inflammatory or tuberculosis by X-ray and CT scan before surgery. Three cases received fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan and their primary pulmonary lesions showed FDG avid. All 11 patients were treated by antibiotics and antituberculosis therapy but no responses appeared. Primary pulmonary cryptococcosis was diagnosed by ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy in only 2 cases, but antifungal therapy was not effective. All 11 patients underwent thoracotomy and their pulmonary cryptococcosis were resected. Only 1 patient with multiple nodules received antifungal therapy postoperatively. No recurrence was found in any patients.
Conclusions: Primary pulmonary cryptococcosis is non-specific and can be confused with lung cancer, tuberculosis, etc. The pulmonary abnormalities should be resected unless the diagnosis is established. Antifungal therapy is not necessary in patients whose abnormality has been resected thoroughly.