Orbitofacial mucormycosis with unusual pathological features.
A 52-year-old man with mild diabetes and acute stem cell leukaemia developed an orbitofacial mucormycosis. Cultures showed the fungus to be Rhizopus oryzae. Vigorous treatment with amphotericin B and other bactericidal and bacteriostatic antibiotics for a concurrent sepsis failed to suppress the infections, and the patient died. On post-mortem examination characteristic haematoxylin-staining, broad, aseptate fungal hyphae were found in the right eye, orbit, and lung. A striking and unusual feature of this case is the presence of brightly birefringent crystals within the severely degenerated eye. These were found by histochemical staining and x-ray diffraction studies to be calcium salts of fatty acids, apparently liberated from necrotic adipose tissue of the orbit.
D002114:Calcinosis / Q000473:pathology; D003881:Dermatomycoses / Q000150:complications; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005123:Eye / Q000473:pathology; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D005148:Facial Dermatoses / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012233:Rhizopus