Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Clinical and Laboratory Findings in Cryptococcal Meningitis

Abstract

BEFORE the introduction of amphotericin B in 1956 cryptococcal meningitis was almost always fatal, three quarters of the patients dying during the first year of illness.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11} Occasionally, progression of the disease was interrupted by temporary remissions¹²; nevertheless, survival for longer than three years was unusual. Since amphotericin B has come into use, however, improvement and recovery have been described in a number of cases.^{13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22} In the present report 40 cases of cryptococcal meningitis seen at the National Institutes of Health will be reviewed, particular attention being given to symptoms and cerebrospinal-fluid and cultural findings before treatment and the relation . . .