[Candida albicans cerebral granuloma in an immunocompetent patient. A case report]

We report a case of temporal lobe granuloma caused by Candida albicans in an immunocompetent patient. This 54-year-old patient had experienced headaches and some memory disorders for two to three months before his admission to the neurosurgical department. Cerebral-computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a single right-temporal lesion with a large peritumoral edema. We operated on the patient via a temporal approach using neuronavigation and resected the lesion. The anatomopathological result and the cultures of the granuloma showed C. albicans species. The patient received antifungal therapy for three months. No predisposing factors or immunosuppression was found. After seven months, he presented an ischemic cerebrovascular accident of the brain stem and then chronic meningitis complicated by hydrocephalus. The patient's condition progressively deteriorated and he died 18 months later in an other department. C. albicans can be found even in the immunocompetent patient, but is seldom observed. Surgery can provide an accurate diagnosis and therapeutic management in the initial phase, completed by antifungal therapy.