Date: 1 December 2013
This patient is a 70 yr old, obese diabetic with aortic stenosis and COPD. He was admitted in early March 09, with collapse and loss of conciousness. His lungs appeared normal at this time – CT and X-ray 1. 10 days later he was admitted with increasing shortness of breath and chest X ray (F) showing widespread patchy consolidation. CT scan (B) showed bronchial dilatation, mucus plugging, nodular and bibasal consolidation. Multiple sputum samples grew Aspergillus fumigatus. The patient required intubation and remained in ITU for 160 days.
Bronchoscopy showed plaques in the major airways with more distal airways plugged with secretions resembling “cottage cheese”.There was severe contact bleeding and oedematous mucosa (I & J). Biopsy of the plaques showed fungal hyphae with a branching pattern consistent with aspergillus infection (G & H).
The patient was initially given IV and nebulised amphotericin B whilst on doses of hydrocortisone from 100-400 mg/day. Voriconazole was added with dose optimisation, and amphotericin discontinued. The patient improved gradually with voriconazole treatment over several months and for the latter month, gamma interferon was added into his regime which further improved his CT scan although some shadowing and bronchial wall thickening was still seen (D).
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Images library
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Falcons: The following images were obtained by endoscopy of falcons with aspergillosis.A,B Thoracic airsac (T) with prominent blood vessels and a dead serratospiculum worm (W). The presence of these lung worms makes the airsac look milky. D Normal ovary with developing follicles.
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Falcons: The following images were obtained by endoscopy of falcons with aspergillosis.B,D Aspergillus lesions (A) over a swollen liver
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Falcons: The following images were obtained by endoscopy of falcons with aspergillosis.B Cranial, middle, caudal lobes (K1,K2,K3) of the left kidney, all the lobes show slight nephromegaly.C Yellow aspergillus colony (A1), lying adjacent to the lung.D White aspergillus colonies (A2,A3,A4).
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Falcons: The following images were obtained by endoscopy of falcons with aspergillosis.C Cranial pole of left kidney (K) -mildly inflamed.D Ovary ( F) with developing follicles.
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The following images were obtained by endoscopy of falcons with aspergillosis.A and B Lung Worm (S) over liver (Li) (serratospiculum seurati)C and D Aspergilloma (A) and prominent blood vessels on the caudal thoracic air sac (T).
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The following images were obtained by endoscopy of falcons with aspergillosis. A Lung Worm (serratospiculum sp.) B Lying in betweeen loops of the intestine.C An aspergillus lesion in between the loops of the intestineD Showing cranial pole of left kidney, ovary and oviduct.