Mucormycosis (Mucor fungus ball) of the maxillary sinus.
A fungus ball is an extramucosal fungal proliferation that completely fills one or more paranasal sinuses and usually occurs as a unilateral infection. It is mainly caused by Aspergillus spp in an immunocompetent host, but some cases of paranasal fungal balls reportedly have been caused by Mucor spp. A Mucor fungus ball is usually found in the maxillary sinus and/or the sphenoid sinus and may be black in color. Patients with mucormycosis, or a Mucor fungal ball infection, usually present with facial pain or headache. On computed tomography, there are no pathognomonic findings that are conclusive for a diagnosis of mucormycosis. In this article we report a case of mucormycosis in a 56-year-old woman and provide a comprehensive review of the literature on the "Mucor fungus ball." To the best of our knowledge, 5 case reports (8 patients) have been published in which the fungus ball was thought to be caused by Mucor spp.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kepco Medical Foundation, Hanil General Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Hang Sun
HS
Cho
Hoon Shik
HS
Yang
Kyung Soo
KS
Kim
D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008443:Maxillary Sinus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009089:Mucor; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D010254:Paranasal Sinus Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed