[A case report of rhinocerebral mucormycosis in hemodialysis patient receiving deferoxamine].

ABSTRACT

Deferoxamine (DFO) has been widely used in the treatment of aluminum toxicity in patients on chronic dialysis. Mucormycosis is an opportunistic infection caused by fungi of the Mucorales order and some reports suggested a role for DFO in the precipitation of this infection. A 50-year-old man had been on hemodialysis for 16 years. 6 weeks before admission, he was begun on DFO because of aluminum toxicity. 2 weeks before admission, general fatigue and fever developed and followed by headache and loss of vision. He was admitted to this hospital with disturbed consciousness. His clinical course and a CT scan of the head suggested cerebral infarction. Within 24 hours he required ventilatory support and died 5 days after the admission. On autopsy, rhino-cerebral mucormycosis was demonstrated with a mycotic thrombus involving the left middle cerebral artery. Dialysis-related mucormycosis has recently appeared in the literature. We feel that hemodialysis patients on DFO may be at risk for potentially fatal mucormycosis infections. With a possible relationship between DFO treatment and this fatal opportunistic infection, caution should be given before using this drug and the indications should be definitive.