Aspergillus pancarditis following bone marrow transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia

A 34-year-old man with chronic myelogenous leukemia developed hemoptysis, pain in the left side of the chest, and a systolic heart murmur eight weeks following an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. His clinical status deteriorated, and he died ten weeks after transplantation. Autopsy revealed unsuspected disseminated aspergillosis, including the unusual finding of Aspergillus pancarditis and pericarditis. Cardiac aspergillosis is a uniformly lethal disease in immunocompromised persons and must be aggressively diagnosed following early symptoms.