Current review
Pulmonary mucormycosis: Results of medical and surgical therapy

https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-4975(94)90243-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection that commonly begins by invading the respiratory tract. The purpose of the present study was to define the clinical presentation of pulmonary mucormycosis and to evaluate current treatment regimens. Thirty patients treated at our institution and 225 cases reported in the literature were reviewed. For the combined groups, the mean age at presentation was 41 ± 21 years and associated medical conditions included leukemia or lymphoma (37%), diabetes mellitus (32%), chronic renal failure (18%), history of organ transplantation (7.6%), or a known solid tumor (5.6%). The in-hospital mortality was 65% for patients with isolated pulmonary mucormycosis, 96% for those with disseminated disease, and 80% overall. The mortality in patients treated surgically was 11%, significantly lower than the 68% mortality in those treated medically (p = 0.0004). The most common causes of death were fungal sepsis (42%), respiratory insufficiency (27%), and hemoptysis (13%). Pulmonary mucormycosis has a high mortality; however, antifungal agents appear to improve survival. In addition, surgical resection may provide additional benefit to patients with pulmonary mucormycosis confined to one lung.

References (39)

  • A Paltauf

    Mycosis mucorina

    Virchows Arch Pathol Anat

    (1885)
  • JS Harris

    Mucormycosis: report of case

    Pediatrics

    (1955)
  • G Medoff et al.

    Pulmonary mucormycosis

    N Engl J Med

    (1972)
  • JW Rippon

    Zygomycosis

  • KW Jones et al.

    Development and evaluation of an immunodiffusion test for diagnosis of systemic zygomycosis (mucormycosis): preliminary report

    J Clin Micro

    (1978)
  • GR Gale et al.

    Studies of opportunistic fungi. I. Inhibition of rhizopus oryzae by human serum

    Am J Med Sci

    (1961)
  • RD Diamond et al.

    Damage to hyphal forms of fungi by human leukocytes in vitro

    Am J Pathol

    (1978)
  • H Bauer et al.

    The effects of cortisone and chemical inflammation on experimental mucormycosis (rhizopus oryzae infection)

    Yale J Biol Med

    (1957)
  • AG Mowat et al.

    Chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes from patients with diabetes mellitus

    N Engl J Med

    (1971)
  • Cited by (363)

    • Novel Approaches in the Management of Mucormycosis

      2023, Current Fungal Infection Reports
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text