Improved diagnosis and prognosis of mucormycosis. A clinicopathologic study of 33 cases.

Mucormycosis is an uncommon, frequently fatal, fungal infection which rarely arises in otherwise healthy people (15, 18, 92). An underlying disease, frequently diabetes mellitus, is almost always present. It appears stereotypically in different anatomic sites: paranasal, rhinoorbital, rhinocerebral, cerebral, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal areas; and in the soft tissue of the extremities. It can also appear as disseminated disease. Tissue invasion by the hyphae of mucormycosis must be seen microscopically to establish the diagnosis, but culture is required to identify the fungal species involved. A study of 33 cases seen in one hospital over five decades suggests that the incidence of this infection is increasing. There has been a dramatic improvement in outcome, which has been paralleled by a major shift from postmortem to premortem diagnosis. Premortem diagnosis gives the opportunity for metabolic stabilization, surgical excision, and amphotericin-B therapy appropriate to this disease.