title: Intracranial blastomycosis presenting as an enhancing cerebellopontine mass.
abstract: Isolated Blastomyces dermatitidis infection of the central nervous system is an uncommonly encountered entity. If left untreated it can be fatal; thus accurate diagnosis in a timely manner is critical. A 37-year-old white male presented with a severe headache. An MRI scan revealed a right-sided enhancing cerebellopontine angle mass with extension into the internal acoustic canal and diffuse basilar enhancement. After thorough assessment of the patient, an open surgical biopsy of the lesion was performed for pathological evaluation. The biopsy demonstrated broad-based budding yeasts. The cerebrospinal fluid antigen enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (MVista®) for Blastomyces dermatitidis was also positive with a level of 4.28 EIA units.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Department of Neurological Surgery, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Erinc
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akture
authors.forename: Shahriar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salamat
authors.forename: Mustafa Kemal
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Baskaya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001758:Blastomyces; D001759:Blastomycosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002530:Cerebellopontine Angle / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003399:Craniotomy; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009336:Necrosis; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014230:Triazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D065819:Voriconazole
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D011743:Pyrimidines; D014230:Triazoles; D065819:Voriconazole