Pulmonary Mucormycosis in an Older Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patient

Abstract

Mucormycosis is a rare but fatal opportunistic fungal infection. Patients with hematologic malignancies who use immunosuppressant and glucocorticoid extensively are susceptible to mucormycosis. We report a case of an older patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who was infected with pulmonary mucormycosis during chemotherapy. With a good balance of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression and control of Mucorales infection, the patient got a complete remission of leukemia by the combination of azacitidine and venetoclax, and pulmonary mucormycosis was well controlled. But due to poor compliance, the patient died of asphyxiation as a result of aspiration of pulmonary necrosis-like substances after discharge. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of an older patient with AML complicated with pulmonary mucormycosis dying of asphyxia from pulmonary necrosis-like substances. Our article seeks to raise awareness of proper precautions to be taken in the management mucormycosis.