Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome and Fatal Cryptococcal Meningitis After Immunosuppression in a Patient With Elderly Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Advanced age and associated comorbidities are-recognized predictors of life-threatening adverse outcomes, such as opportunistic infection following immunosuppressive therapy. We describe the case of an elderly patient with stricturing colonic Crohn’s disease and significant clinical comorbidities, initially controlled with corticosteroid induction followed by infliximab, whose course was complicated by fatal disseminated cryptococcal infection and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome. Our patient’s case highlights rare, but serious, complications of immunosuppression. In applying modern treatment paradigms to the elderly, the clinician must consider the potential for more pronounced adverse effects in this potentially vulnerable group, maximizing benefit and minimizing harm.