Chronic cavitary pulmonary histoplasmosis.
Histoplasmosis is a systemic mycosis caused by the thermally dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, which can be isolated from soil contaminated with droppings from birds or bats. Chronic cavitary pulmonary histoplasmosis is one of the rarest clinical presentations of this disease. The differential diagnosis with tuberculosis should be made in patients presenting with cavitated lesions in upper lung segments. We report the case of a female patient with chronic cavitary pulmonary histoplasmosis who had presented with progressive dyspnea and worsening of the radiological pattern over a four-year period.
Santos
José Wellington Alves dos
JW
Department of Pulmonology, Santa Maria University Hospital, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil. jwasb@terra.com.br
Michel
Gustavo Trindade
GT
Lazzarotto
Mônica
M
Figaro
Juliana Kaczmareck
JK
Spilmann
Daniel
D
Homrich
Gustavo Köhler
GK
D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006660:Histoplasmosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008172:Lung Diseases, Fungal / Q000473:pathology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis