Gastric mucormycosis: Diagnosis by imprint cytology

The fungi in the order of Mucorales commonly target diabetics and other immunocompromised hosts, producing fatal respiratory and or CNS infections. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis is uncommon and seldom diagnosed in living patients due to nonspecific clinical manifestations. We report a case of gastric mucormycosis in an immmunocompetent male patient, diagnosed by imprint cytology-a rare site and a rare setting. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the second report of gastric mucormycosis being diagnosed on cytology. As the disease is rapidly progressive and often fatal, early diagnosis is critical to the patient survival. Imprint cytology or brush cytology is extremely useful for the rapid diagnosis of gastric mucormycosis as these organisms are morphologically distinct. Familiarity with the cytomorphology of these organisms assists in the correct diagnosis of this disease. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2016;44:820-822. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.