Wound Infection with an Unusual Pathogen after Liver Transplantation

Abstract

Mucormycosis is a rare and highly invasive fungal infection caused by Mucorales fungi of the class Zygomycetes. Cutaneous mucormycosis typically has a good survival rate when diagnosed early. In this report, we presented a patient with surgical site mucormycosis after liver transplant surgery. Our patient was a 50-year-old man with cirrhosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis who received liver transplant from a deceased donor. On the 8th day of transplant, the patient had fever and purulent discharge from the surgical site. The wound became black and necrotic in the next day. A microbiologic study showed mycelium in wound culture. The smear of the discharge was positive for aseptate hyphae, and the report of fungal culture revealed Rhizopus sp. In the histopathologic examination, mucormycosis was confirmed. The combination of antifungal and surgical debridement was a successful treatment in this case. Cutaneous fungal infections should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any nonhealing or black scar-infected wound that does not respond to broad-spectrum antibiotics.