title: Mucormycosis Causing Ludwig Angina: A Unique Presentation.
abstract: Mucormycosis is a rare fungal infection with a yearly incidence of 1.7 cases per million in the United States. It usually occurs in patients with metabolic abnormalities or who are immunocompromised with prolonged neutropenia. However, it can also occur in patients without any underlying disease process. The treatment of choice is surgical debridement of necrotic tissue and systemic antifungal therapy, including amphotericin B. A dilemma for the surgeon when faced with head and neck mucormycosis is the morbidity of surgical debridement from both a functional and cosmetic standpoint. There have been multiple case reports of a form of cutaneous mucormycosis in the head and neck involving the oral mucosa and the mandible, but no reports in the literature of a fungal infection causing Ludwig angina. This report describes one such case. The morbid clinical implications of mucormycosis causing Ludwig angina become apparent when considering the defect caused by adequate surgical debridement.
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL. Electronic address: rmcspadden@lumc.edu.
authors.forename: Ryan P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: McSpadden
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL.
authors.forename: Swati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mehrotra
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thorpe
mesh_terms: D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D015477:Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D008158:Ludwig's Angina / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000601:surgery