Wednesday 18 July 2018

Fungal lung infection (cryptococcus) - anyone had this?

My husband was diagnosed with a fungal lung infection that's supposedly common for immunocompromised patients...but I've not seen much mention of it in conjunction with GBM.  In some cases, the fungus can enter the brain via cerebrospinal fluid, possibly leading to meningitis. 

The prescribed medication for the non-CSF version is a six month course of Fluconazole, which can impact liver function.  I'm guessing this may mean our NO won't proceed with additional 5/23 cycles (cycle 3 just completed, will hear about the MRI on Thursday), but the NO and the infectious diseases physician are still trying to figure out how to proceed.  Anyone have experience with this set of circumstances?

2 comments:

  1. I had a bacterial infection at my surgical site. The medications I was prescribed to treat it included: IV daptomycin, Linezolid, and Rifampin. I'm no longer on any of those medicines, but it's possible for the hardware to still harbor the bacteria so I'm on long term Penicillin; more than a year so far 3 times a day.

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  2. Follow-up so that it's documented: though my husband's regular MRI and an additional liver panel indicate that it's unlikely to be the CSF version, the NO and infectious disease physician would like him to have a lumbar puncture (aka spinal tap) as that is the only way to confirm. This will happen when his platelet numbers will come back up. It will not impact scheduling of his next 5/23 cycle.

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