1985 Volume 26 Issue 3 Pages 442-447
A 61-year-old man of Fusarium infection during treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia (L2 of FAB classification) is described.
Leukemic blasts were 16% in the peripheral blood and 86% in the bone marrow on his admission day, and were resistant to combination chemotherapy; leukemic blasts were remained 30% in the bone marrow on the 22nd hospital day. He was complicated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa septicemia, and was stopped cytotoxic drugs and treated with antibiotics, gammaglobulins and granulocyte transfusions. He had erythematous skin lesions on the scalp and in the face and the extremities at that time. These lesions were changed into a blackish necrosis with scab and healed with a detachment. Cultures of these lesions grew two colonies which were composed of F. solani and F. oxysporum. Histological findings revealed septate hyphae in the epidermis and the vessels of the dermis. Amphotericin B infusion and oral 5-flucytosine were continued until a granulocyte count in the peripheral blood increased, because high fever continued.
He had the remission on the 31st hospital day, but relapsed after 5 months. He died of cerebral hemorrhage after 5 months from a diagnosis.
