Abstract
We report a case of Fonsecaea monophora cerebral phaeohyphomycosis successfully treated with surgical excision and voriconazole monotherapy in a patient receiving maintenance immunosuppression therapy for 8 years after cadaveric renal transplantation. She presented with a severe frontal headache in the absence of any constitutional or neurologic symptoms. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed an irregular 3.1 × 3.4 cm ring-enhancing lesion in her left frontal lobe. The patient underwent craniotomy and resection of her mass, with intraoperative spillage of some of her abscess contents into her lateral ventricle. Histopathology of her resected mass showed necrotic fragments of brain parenchyma with granulomatous inflammation and numerous pigmented fungal forms. A mold, recovered from cultures inoculated with portions of her brain resection specimen, was later definitively identified as Fonsecaea monophora. Initial serum (1→3) β-D-glucan (BG) levels exceeded 500 pg/ml. The patient received voriconazole, which she tolerated well, without recurrent headaches or abscess formation noted on serial brain imaging. Her BG declined to <31 pg/ml one year following her abscess resection. She discontinued antifungal therapy after an 18-month treatment course, and has remained free of any clinical or radiographic evidence of recurrent abscess formation three years later.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr Franz von Lichtenberg for his review of the histopathology of the case and for his mentorship in the study of the pathology of infectious diseases, and Akhtari Alam for her invaluable work at the clinical mycology laboratory at our hospital.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
This paper was first published online on Early Online on 25 January 2010.