Date: 10 February 2014
An aspergilloma (or fungal ball) is a mass of fungus found inside the body, for example inside cavities such as the lungs or sinuses, or as abscesses in organs such as the brain or kidney. They are made up of threadlike fungal strands (hyphae) that are densely packed but only around 1/200 of a millimetre in diameter. A mass of hyphae is called a mycelium.
In this image, a slice through an aspergilloma has been imaged using a transmission electron microscope.
Copyright:
With kind permission from Dr Anne Beauvais, Unite des Aspergillus, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75015 Paris
Notes: n/a
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Nodules and areas of atelectasis are seen at both bases. He later died.
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Further details
It is clearly a relatively small cavitary lesion, and the patient was almost asymptomatic. This response was a ‘stable’ response. The patient was included in the report Denning DW, Lee JY, Hostetler JS, Pappas P, Kauffman CA, Dewsnup DH, Galgiani JN, Graybill JR, Sugar AM, Catanzaro A, Gallis H, Perfect JR, Dockery B, Dismukes WE, Stevens DA, NIAID Mycoses Study Group multicenter trial of oral itraconazole therapy of invasive aspergillosis. Am J Med 1994; 97: 135-144.
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Well demarcated pulmonary infarction is well seen in this close-up of the lung at autopsy in a patient with histologically confirmed invasive aspergillosis. Angio invasion is characteristic of invasive aspergillosis, is associated with a worse prognosis, but is not always seen.
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This 83 year old man presented with weight loss to a lung cancer clinic in mid 2003.
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