[Autopsy results of deep mycoses in hematologic neoplasms (1053 patients]

1053 autopsies were performed during the period from 1976 to 1990 in patients with leukaemia and malignant lymphomas. At autopsy 184 of these (17.4%) presented with deep-seated mycoses. There was an increasing percentage of mycoses per year with a maximum of 30% in 1990. Today deep-seated mycoses are the most frequent lethal complication in haematologic neoplasias. As expected their number was especially high in patients with acute leukaemia but in recent years they were nearly just as frequent in myeloproliferative disorders. Among Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) they were twice as frequent in low-grade cases as in high-grade cases possibly due to a different extent of bone marrow infiltration. In contrast to former years more aspergillosis than Candida infections are found, probably as a result of antimycotic therapy.