A multicenter retrospective experience of infliximab in Crohn's disease patients: infusion reaction rates and treatment persistency.

Background: Infusion reactions have been associated with infliximab therapy, but no study has assessed how physicians treat and manage this common adverse event.

Goals: To determine how gastroenterologists manage infusion reactions, identify prophylactic pretreatment protocols, and determine infliximab treatment persistence in the presence of infusion reactions.

Method: This retrospective multicenter chart review analyzed data from adults younger than 90 years at the time of their first infliximab infusion from 9 academic or community-based gastroenterology practices.

Aspergillosis of the cerebral ventricles in a heroin abuser. Case report and review of the literature.

Aspergillosis of the cerebral ventricles developed in a 36-year-old heroin abuser who died during the sixth week of illness. The diagnosis was not made during life. A review of our case and of four previous cases from the literature indicates that aspergillosis should be considered in parenteral drug abusers with the syndrome of chronic meningitis or ventriculitis.