Successful treatment with ganciclovir of a HIV endstage patient with adrenal insufficiency.

We report on a 31-year-old AIDS patient who presented with rapid progressive fatigue, weakness, weight loss and hyperpigmentation. Endoscopy showed an ulcerous CMV gastritis with the histological hallmarks of this disease. In addition, laboratory tests revealed the constellation of an adrenal insufficiency with low plasma levels of sodium and increased levels of potassium and ACTH. After initiation of ganciclovir treatment, the CMV gastritis healed and the electrolyte abnormalities were resolved within 2 weeks. We assume that a CMV adrenalitis was treated in a reversible stage. The literature on CMV adrenalitis is reviewed to support this conclusion.