An Autopsy Case of Primary Chromoblastomycosis Arising from the Internal Organs

Dark-brown Granulomas in the Liver and the Brain without Skin Symptoms, Observed in a Smoking Child 3 Years Old

Abstract

The authors reported the first case ever reported of chromoblastomycosis primarily occurring in the liver without any dermal manifestations. The case, a boy 3 years and 5 months old, began to eat shred tobacco only around 1 year old and later on acquired the habit of smoking cigarettes. During about 3 months of the clinical course, the patient showed fever and swelling of the liver and died of cerebral symptoms. Autopsy revealed multiple yellow-brown granulomas chiefly in the liver and also in the lymph nodes in the abdomen and the thorax, and multiple metastasis to the brain. We failed in isolating and cultivating the pathogenic fungi, but the existence of chromobolastomycosis was ascertained, considering the histological features of the granulomas, and the characteristic form and color of the dark-brown small bodies or the hyphae found in the foci in innumerable abundance.