Date: 26 November 2013
This 63 year old smoker presented with a new small mass in the right upper lobe. She had had tuberculosis as a teenager (1958) which recurred in 1962, requiring 2 long stays in a sanatorium. Since then she was well, until a new shadow was noticed on her chest X-ray. A CT showed a smooth round nodule, and to rule out carcinoma it was biopsied percutaneously. Histology showed fungal hyphae, consistent with Aspergillus , and serology confirmed infection with Aspergillus fumigatus. Following biopsy, an air fluid pocket has appeared, most consistent with an aspergilloma, as the lesion is solitary.
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PtDS2 –Repeated chest infections arrested by itraconazole therapy in ABPA and bronchiectasis
DS2 developed asthma age 24 and now aged 62. From about age 30 she started getting repeated chest infections and a few years later ABPA and bronchiectasis was diagnosed. Infections continued requiring multiple courses of antibiotics annually. At one point DS2 developed a pneumothorax, possibly because of excess coughing. She has chronic rhinitis and mannose binding lectin deficiency. In May 2011, she started itraconazole therapy, and has needed no antibiotic courses for her chest since. Her rhinitis with sinusitis occasionally bothers her. She is delighted to have gone 18 months with no chest infections.
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Aspergillus hyphae (arrow) in the lumen without invasion of the necrotic bronchial wall (*) (Nicod 2001).
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fibrinonecrotic material (arrow) from the airway shown in A, with subocclusion of the bronchial lumen (*)
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Fibrinous or pseudomembranous bronchitis (arrow) with subocclusion of the airways (* indicates subocclusion of the airways by pseudomembranes)
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Bronchoscopic biopsy demonstrated septate hyphae with branching at 45o (methenamine silver stain ×400).
