Aortic lesions in aspergillosis: histopathological study of two autopsy cases

The involvement of the aorta in aspergillosis is relatively rare, and its histopathological features have not been described in detail. In two autopsy cases of invasive aspergillosis in immunologically compromised patients with hematological disorders, the aspergillotic lesions of the aorta showed d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology 2001-11, Vol.439 (5), p.640-644
Main Authors: SHINTAKU, Masayuki, SANGAWA, Akiko, YONEZAWA, Akihito, NASU, Kaori
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aorta, Thoracic - microbiology
Aorta, Thoracic - pathology
Aortic Diseases - microbiology
Aortic Diseases - pathology
Aspergillosis - complications
Aspergillosis - pathology
Biological and medical sciences
Fatal Outcome
Female
Human mycoses
Humans
Immunocompromised Host
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous mycoses
Mycoses
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Summary:The involvement of the aorta in aspergillosis is relatively rare, and its histopathological features have not been described in detail. In two autopsy cases of invasive aspergillosis in immunologically compromised patients with hematological disorders, the aspergillotic lesions of the aorta showed different characteristic histopathological features depending on the three layers of aortic wall. Intimal lesions were formations of the mural thrombus composed of aggregates of numerous fungal hyphae arranged perpendicularly to the aortic wall. In the media, smooth muscle cells were completely necrotic (anemic infarct of the media), while the framework of elastic fibers was well preserved, with only a few fungal hyphae detected. In the adventitia, an intense, partly granulomatous chronic inflammatory change with fibrosis was observed in association with mycotic embolic occlusion of the vasa vasorum. These histopathological changes were considered to represent one of the typical tissue reaction patterns in the wall of an elastic artery in aspergillosis.
ISSN:0945-6317
1432-2307
DOI:10.1007/s004280100427