Mucormycosis in COVID-19 patients: The patient profile, contributing factors and postoperative outcome – A case series of 14 patients

Abstract

Co-infection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with life-threatening mucormycosis was seen as a major health crisis during the recent surge of coronavirus disease cases. We have taken 14 affected patients who were operated on at our centre and noted associated risk factors, intraoperative courses and surgical outcome in immediate peri-operative course. Out of 14 patients, 8 were people with diabetes while 2 were freshly detected/had corticosteroid-induced hyperglycaemia. Although our sample size is small, it is evident that patients who had diabetes, who were treated with steroids and who received supplemental oxygen support are more prone to contract mucormycosis infection. Also, patients who have the more severe form of COVID-19 pneumonia and those who need to be operated on early (within 20 days of COVID-19 infection) are likely to have turbulent intraoperative and postoperative courses. Therefore, optimization before surgery is of paramount importance.

Keywords

• corticosteroids
• covid-19
• diabetes mellitus
• mucormycosis