Primary cutaneous cryptococcosis in a patient with systemic immunosuppression after liver transplantation.

We report a 36-year-old woman who slowly developed an ulceration on the left thigh 2 years after transplantation for Budd-Chiari syndrome. At this time point, the patient was treated with prednisone, tacrolimus and azathioprine for immunosuppression and with phenprocoumon and low-dose aspirin for anticoagulation in the presence of polycythemia vera. A biopsy of the skin lesion was obtained and revealed encapsulated yeast that was identified by microbiological and serological methods as Cryptococcus neoformans serotype D. The patient had no signs of systemic infection and a therapy with fluconazole (200 mg/day) was started. The lesion healed within 8 weeks and fluconazole was stopped after 3 months. Due to interactions between fluconazole, tacrolimus and phenprocoumon, the latter drugs were decreased to prevent toxicity. So far, 1 month after stopping fluconazole, no recurrence of skin lesions has been observed. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel