| Theme | Fatal infections of elderly and super-elderly dialysis patients | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Pulmonary mucormycosis | |
| Publish Date | 2016/02 | |
| Author | Taku Morito | Department of Medicine, Towa Hospital / Department of Medicine, Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University |
| Author | Misao Tsukada | Department of Medicine, Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University |
| Author | Sekiko Taneda | Department of Pathology, Tokyo Women's Medical University |
| Author | Kosaku Nitta | Department of Medicine, Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University |
| [ Summary ] | Since the overall number of diabetes and elderly dialysis patients has increased in Japan, infectious diseases have become the second highest cause of death in dialysis patients, accounting for 20.8 % in 2013. In these patients, mucormycosis is rare. However, it is frequently a life threatening infection because of difficulties with diagnosis and rapid progression of the disease. Although early detection and treatment are necessary to survive mucormycosis, they are difficult to achieve in clinical practice. This is because a beta-D-glucan test is not available for mucormycosis. Blood and sputum cultures provide low sensitivity. Therefore, pathological examinations such as bronchoalveolar lavage, biopsy or surgical resection are required to diagnose these infections. Diagnosis and treatment of mucormycosis in our case and others are illustrated. | |