International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery | November 2020 | Vol 6 | Issue 11 Page 2135
International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery
Phogat J et al. Int J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Nov;6(11):2135-2138
http://www.ijorl.com
pISSN 2454-5929 | eISSN 2454-5937
Case Report
Sino-orbito-cerebral aspergillosis in an immunocompetent patient:
a rare case report
Jitender Phogat
1
, Manisha Nada
1
*, Monika Dahiya
1
, Sneha Solanki
2
INTRODUCTION
Fungi are an important opportunistic pathogen in
immunocompromised individuals, which is very well
documented in literature.
1-3
But, invasive sino-orbital
fungal infections are uncommon in immunocompetent
patients, whose diagnosis and treatment still remains a
challenge. Sino-orbito-cerebral aspergillosis in healthy
immunocompetent individuals is a relatively under-
diagnosed and under-recognised clinical entity. Most
common source of infection for aspergillosis is paranasal
sinuses, most common being the maxillary sinus,
followed by ethmoid, sphenoid and frontal sinus. Most
common site of involvement is lung but invasive forms
can also present as rhinosinusitis.
4
Infection can spread
from the adjacent paranasal sinuses to orbit by breaching
the lamina papyracea and can spread to the brain via optic
nerve, making the prognosis even worse.
5,6
Here, we
present a case of invasive sino-orbito-cerebral
aspergillosis in an immunocompetent patient, which is
rare clinical entity and often not suspected because there
are numerous orbital pathologies which can present in a
similar fashion. Till date, there are no standard guidelines
for its treatment and outcome is poor if not diagnosed and
treated timely as it can spread to middle cranial fossa via
ABSTRACT
Invasive sino-orbito-cerebral aspergillosis is rarely seen in immunocompetent individuals; diagnosis and management
of which is still a challenge. We report a case of invasive sino-orbito-cerebral aspergillosis in a 38 year
immunocompetent male presenting with mild protrusion of right eye which was associated with no other complaint.
His visual acuity was 6/6 in both eyes. There was mild proptosis of right eye of 2 mm on Hertel exophthalmometer
with no restriction of the ocular movements. MRI brain, orbit and paranasal sinuses revealed soft tissue swelling in
right ethmoid, frontal and sphenoidal air cells and orbit with bony destruction of lamina papyracea with intracranial
extension of the mass with destruction of lamina cribrosa. The tissue biopsy was taken from the uncinate process and
middle turbinate and sent for histopathological examination which revealed a fibrocollagenous soft tissue which was
densely infiltrated by inflammatory cells with presence of large number of foreign body granulomas and filamentous
aspergillus fungal hyphae. By radiological and histopathological findings, patient was diagnosed as a case of rhino-
orbito-cerebral aspergillosis and given Tb Voriconazole 200 mg BD for 6 months after neurosurgery consultation. His
proptosis was revealed at 3 months and repeat MRI showed slightly thickened mucosa of sinuses with no mass lesion
seen in the orbit and brain with no evidence of any residual fungal granuloma. Orbital aspergillosis is quite
challenging in terms of both diagnosis and treatment. Prolonged antifungal therapy is very effective in controlling
infection, if patient is compliant.
Keywords: Aspergillosis, Fungal infections, Proptosis, Voriconazole.
1
Regional Institute of Opthalmology, PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, India
2
ESIC Model Hospital, Gurugram, Haryana, India
Received: 07 September 2020
Accepted: 14 October 2020
*Correspondence:
Dr. Manisha Nada,
E-mail: manisha_nada@rediffmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20204647