title: Unusual pattern of enhancement in cryptococcal meningitis: in vivo findings with postmortem correlation.
abstract: Leptomeningeal enhancement on CT and MR imaging studies secondary to cryptococcal meningitis is an uncommon finding. In immunocompromised patients, this meningitis incites only a mild inflammatory reaction and abnormalities are often absent on imaging studies. We recently encountered two patients with cryptococcal meningitis in whom postcontrast MR imaging showed thick enhancing subarachnoid spaces. Both had cryptococcal meningitis at autopsy. In a different patient with cryptococcal meningitis, postmortem MR imaging and pathologic examinations showed that these areas of enhancement correspond to abundant mucoid material secreted by the yeasts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arnder
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Heinz
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Scatliff
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Enterline
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008578:Meninges / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D016919:Meningitis, Cryptococcal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed