title: Primary invasive aspergillosis of the digestive tract: report of two cases and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disseminated aspergillosis is thought to occur as a result of vascular invasion from the lungs with subsequent bloodstream dissemination, and portals of entry other than sinuses and/or the respiratory tract remain speculative.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report two cases of primary aspergillosis in the digestive tract and present a detailed review of eight of the 23 previously-published cases for which detailed data are available.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These ten cases presented with symptoms suggestive of typhlitis, with further peritonitis requiring laparotomy and small bowel segmental resection. All cases were characterized by the absence of pulmonary disease at the time of histologically-confirmed gastrointestinal involvement with vascular invasion by branched Aspergillus hyphae. These cases suggest that the digestive tract may represent a portal of entry for Aspergillus species in immunocompromised patients.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Intensive Care Medicine and Burn Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Bugnon 46, CH -1011, Lausanne, Switzerland. philippe.eggimann@chuv.ch
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eggimann
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chevrolet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Starobinski
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Majno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Totsch
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chapuis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pittet
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000473:pathology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology*