Efficacy of a short-term amphotericin B + flucytosine combination therapy followed by itraconazole monotherapy in acute and chronic AIDS-associated cryptococcosis

The authors report the clinical and microbiological findings of a 6-month follow-up of nine AIDS patients affected with cryptococcosis. Among these, seven patients suffered from meningoencephalitis and two from disseminated infection. The antifungal therapy during acute illness included the administration of amphotericin B at doses of 0.6 mg kg-1 day-1 i.v. plus flucytosine at doses of 100 mg kg-1 day-1 i.v. during the first 15 days followed by itraconazole at doses of 400 mg day-1 p.o. in the following 15 days. The maintenance treatment included itraconazole at doses of 200 mg day-1 p.o. indefinitely. During the 6-month follow-up, one patient died of hepatic failure related to C virus (HCV) hepatitis reactivation and another patient died of polymicrobial pneumonia. In two patients, the presence of multiple nodular lesions in the cerebral computerized tomography (CT) scan, related to cryptococcal granulomas, was associated with the persistance of fungi in the cerebrospinal fluid. In three patients with meningoencephalitis the three-drugs regimen was effective in eradicating the neurological infection, and relapses were not observed during the maintenance therapy with itraconazole during the 6-month follow-up. The two patients with haematogenous cryptococcosis did not relapse after the 6-month follow-up.