BACKGROUND: Pulmonary cryptococcosis is an important opportunistic fungal infection in immunocompromised individuals, including those with an infection of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but it can be increasingly seen in non-HIV patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 58 non-HIV-infected patients with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification Code B45.0 (pulmonary cryptococcosis) who were admitted to the Chi-Mei Hospital, Taiwan from January 2016 to April 2022. RESULTS: Of the enrolled 58 cases, 56 patients had no evidence of disease outside the lungs, and only two patients (3.4%) had disseminated diseases. Thirty-nine patients had pathologically confirmed pulmonary cryptococcosis, and 19 patients had clinically confirmed disease. Pulmonary cryptococcus patients with cancer had a nonsignificant numerically higher rate of ICU use (14.29% vs. 5.13%; CONCLUSIONS: Cancer and noncancer patients had similar good outcomes after receiving appropriate standard antifungal treatment. Asymptomatic patients with pulmonary cryptococcosis diagnosed incidentally are self-limited and require no antifungal therapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: IRB number: 11111-004.
Tu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.