Clinical and pathological analysis of autopsy-confirmed invasive fungal disease in elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare and analyze clinical and pathological data of autopsyconfirmed invasive fungal disease (IFD) in elderly patients in order to achieve a better understanding of the clinical and pathological characteristics of IFD.Methods A total of 18 cases of IFD were diagnosed by autopsy from 1984 to 2014 at Beijing Hospital.Clinical and pathological data of IFD,including risk factors,clinical manifestation,X-ray and pathological characteristics,were analyzed retrospectively.Results The 18 cases were all male wvith an average age of (83.7±7.2) years and each patient had at least one risk factor for IFD.Of them,14 patients (77.8％) suffered malignancies of various origins.With respect to the pathogens,Mucor (6 cases) was the most common one,followed by Aspergilla (4 cases),Mycotoruloides (4 cases) and Cryptococci (2 cases).The lung was the most frequently implicated organ wvith 13 cases (72.2％),followed by the gastrointestinal tract.Vascular erosion was an important pathological characteristic of fungal infection,whose presentations included vasculitis,hemorrhage and embolism in tissues and organs.14 patients died from fungal infection-related causes,of which.massive hemorrhage as a result of vascular erosion by fungal infection was responsible for four patients' deaths.Conclusions Malignancies are an important risk factor for invasive fungal disease in elderly patients.Vascular erosion is a significant character of fungal infection.