J Korean Med Sci.  2000 Dec;15(6):704-707. 10.3346/jkms.2000.15.6.704.

Fungal discitis due to Aspergillus terreus in a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

• Park KU
• Lee HS
• Kim CJ
• Kim EC

• KMID: 2157553
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2000.15.6.704

Abstract

We report a case of Aspergillus terreus discitis which developed in a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia following induction chemotherapy. A. terreus was isolated from sputum, one month earlier, but the physician did not consider it significant at the time. Magnetic resonance imaging study showed the involvement of L3-4, L4-5 and L5-S1 intervertebral discs. Etiology was established by means of histology and culturing a surgical specimen of disc materials. Our patient survived after a surgical debridement and amphotericin B administration with a total dose of 2.0 g. Discitis caused by Aspergillus terreus is a very rare event. A. terreus is one of the invasive Aspergillus species. The pathogenetic mechanism is discussed and the literature is reviewed.

Keyword

Aspergillus; Discitis; Aspergillosis; Immunocompromised Host

MeSH Terms

Aspergillosis/surgery
Aspergillosis/pathology
Aspergillosis/microbiology*
Aspergillosis/drug therapy
Aspergillosis/complications
Aspergillus/isolation & purification
Aspergillus/classification
Journal Article
Discitis/surgery
Discitis/pathology
Discitis/microbiology*
Discitis/drug therapy
Human
Intervertebral Disk/surgery
Intervertebral Disk/pathology
Intervertebral Disk/microbiology*
Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Acute/microbiology
Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Acute/drug therapy
Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Acute/complications*
Lumbar Vertebrae/surgery
Lumbar Vertebrae/pathology
Lumbar Vertebrae/microbiology*