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You, Choi, Lee, and Choi: Death due to Aspergillus Tracheobronchitis: An Autopsy Case
Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2018; 42(4): 164-167.

Published online: 30 November 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2018.42.4.164

Death due to Aspergillus Tracheobronchitis: An Autopsy Case

Tack Kune You1, Byung Ha Choi1, Bong Woo Lee, Young Shik Choi2

1Medical Examiner's Office, National Forensic Service, Wonju, Korea.

2National Forensic Service, Wonju, Korea.

Correspondence to Tack Kune You. Medical Examiner's Office, National Forensic Service, 10 Ipchun-ro, Wonju 26460, Korea. Tel: +82-33-902-5225, Fax: +82-33-902-5911, ryu.taekkyoon@gmail.com

Received 5 September 2018       Revised 12 November 2018       Accepted 26 November 2018

© Copyright 2018 by the Korean Society for Legal Medicine

The Korean Society for Legal Medicine

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Aspergillus infection is the most common cause of death due to fungi in immunocompromised hosts. Aspergillus tracheobronchitis is an uncommon but severe form of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, which is limited entirely or mainly to the tracheobronchial tree and can often be life-threatening. We report a case of a 54-year-old man who died from Aspergillus tracheobronchitis without an underlying disease. Autopsy revealed an extensive yellowish plaque adhering to the trachea and bronchial wall. The microscopic examination of the trachea and bronchus revealed septate branching hyphae of Aspergillus.

Keywords: Tracheitis, Bronchitis, Aspergillus, Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, Autopsy

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Autopsy photography reveals extensive yellowish exudate on the trachea (A) and main bronchus (B).

kjlm-42-164-g001
Fig. 2

On microscopic examination of lung sections, numerous branching hyphae mixed with necrotic debris, inflammatory cells and erythrocyte are noted (A) (H&E stain, ×100). Uninvolved bronchial epithelium (lower left) compared to that numerous septate branching hyphae (aspergillus) invade bronchial wall (left upper, lower right) with inflammatory cells and necrotic debris (B) (periodic acid-Schiff stain, ×200).

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Notes

Conflicts of Interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

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3. Kousha M, Tadi R, Soubani AO. Pulmonary aspergillosis: a clinical review. Eur Respir Rev. 2011; 20:156–174.
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ORCID iDs

Tack Kune You
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3373-4292

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