Localized infection by Serratia marcescens simulating a conjunctival neoplasm.
OBJECTIVE
To report a Serratia marcescens infection that clinically simulated a conjunctival neoplasm.


METHODS
Case report.


RESULTS
A healthy 80-year-old man without contact lenses presented with a pink-yellow conjunctival mass that resembled a solid neoplasm. Stains and cultures of material that exuded from the mass during surgery revealed S. marcescens. Histopathology disclosed an epithelial-lined cyst with macrophages containing S. marcescens.


CONCLUSIONS
Although S. marcescens usually affects the eye as a keratoconjunctivitis in patients with contact lenses, it can also present as a mass simulating a neoplasm in a patient who does not wear contact lenses.
Shields
J A
JA
Oncology Service, Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Shields
C L
CL
Eagle
R C
RC
Moster
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002939:Ciprofloxacin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D003230:Conjunctival Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D003560:Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D015818:Eye Infections, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016868:Serratia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D002939:Ciprofloxacin