Central nervous system aspergillosis in two young adults

Abstract

Unusual and unique features were present in the cases of two patients with central nervous system aspergillosis: One had a previously unreported complication of aspergillosis, extracranial internal carotid artery thrombosis documented by angiography, and in the other patient, cerebral granulomas developed from Aspergillus fumigatus in association with intravenous narcotic abuse. The latter etiologic mechanism was suggested once before. Neither of these patients showed other underlying disease. A detailed neuropathologic examination correlated the salient clinical findings with formation of aspergillosis cerebral granulomata, basilar meningitis, and arterial occlusion. Diagnostic and therapeutic methods in this disease are limited.