Treatment of cerebral mucormycosis with drug therapy alone: A case report

Abstract

We report on an elderly male patient with headache and right-side weakness. Imaging studies revealed multiple space-occupying lesions in the parietal and occipital cerebral regions. Biopsy revealed broad aseptate ribbon-like structures branching at right angles, suggestive of mucormycosis. Improvement was observed after medical therapy with 20 weeks of liposomal amphotericin B (5 mg/kg/day) combined with posaconazole, followed by posaconazole (400 mg twice a day) alone for 1 month. The patient recovered without neurological deficits; however, multidrug-resistant bacteraemia and hospital-acquired pneumonia occurred, resulting in death.Nevertheless, our report shows that this lethal fungal infection can sometimes show favourable progress with drug therapy alone. Keywords: Cerebral mucormycosis, Liposomal amphotericin B, Posaconazole, Fungal infection, Antifungal therapy