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CASE REPORT
Isolated splenic mucormycosis in a case of aplastic anaemia
  1. Shefali K Sharma1,
  2. Prasanth Balasubramanian2,
  3. Bishan Radotra3,
  4. Manphool Singhal4
  1. 1Department of Internal Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, Candigarh, India
  2. 2Department of Internal Medicine, Post graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India
  3. 3Department of Histopathology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
  4. 4Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Shefali K Sharma, sharmashefali{at}hotmail.com

Summary

Mucormycosis, a rare opportunistic infection seen in immunocompromised hosts, is caused by fungi of Mucorales family. It may be confined to the organs, such as rhinocerebral and pulmonary mucormycosis, or may cause disseminated infection. A 14-year-old boy presented to our clinic with fever and left upper quadrant abdominal pain, and on evaluation was found to have pancytopaenia, and imaging revealed ill-defined splenic collection with thrombus in the splenic vein. He was started on empirical intravenous antibiotics, followed by antifungals empirically as he did not show any improvement clinically. Eventually, splenectomy was done, which on histopathological examination revealed mucormycosis. The patient finally succumbed to his illness as he developed peritonitis and refractory shock. To date, only two cases of isolated splenic mucormycosis have been reported. Aggressive treatment is needed, which includes the use of antifungals (amphotericin B) and surgical debridement or resection of the involved tissues or organs.

  • tropical medicine (infectious disease)
  • malignant and benign haematology

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Footnotes

  • Contributors SKS treated the case and came up with the idea of writing the case report. PB prepared the manuscript. BR did the histopathological examination. MS reported the radiology.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Parental/guardian consent obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.