title: Isolated fatal renal mucormycosis in a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and tuberculosis.
abstract: Renal mucormyosis is a rare entity and normally diagnosed at postmortem. Isolated cases diagnosed antemortem are even rarer and only a few cases have been reported. The disease is associated with a high mortality rate, especially in patients with underlying disease. Clinical presentation is non-specific and includes flank pain, fever and pyuria with or without haematuria. Identifying fungal hyphae microscopically is essential for diagnosis. We present a rare isolated fatal case of renal mucormycosis in a 77-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and old tuberculosis (TB) who had been diagnosed after a right nephrectomy. We believe early diagnosis and appropriate treatment for fungal infection, together with the predisposing underlying disease, is crucial for survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000150:complications*; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000150:complications*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000150:complications*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications*