Extradural cryptococcoma at the sacral spine without bone involvement in an immunocompetent patient

Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast-like fungus found in avian excreta, soil, and decayed wood [1]. The respiratory tract is the primary route of cryptococcal infection from yeast inhalation, and the infection can disseminate to most other organs [2, 3], although the main target organs are the lungs and the central nervous system (CNS) [4]. The most common manifestations in cases of CNS involvement are meningitis and meningoencephalitis [5, 6]. An extradural lesion of cryptococcal infection in the CNS is a rare entity that is usually accompanied by osteomyelitis [7–14]. Cryptococcal infection is mostly found in immunocompromised patients [2, 4, 5]. However, up to 10–40 % of reported cases have been in immunocompetent individuals [5, 6, 15, 16]. An extremely rare case of isolated extradural cryptococcoma at the sacral spine without a contiguous bone lesion in an immunocompetent man is described. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of extradural cryptococcoma without a bone lesion. Case report