[Rhinocerebral mucormycosis as a complication of cytostatic therapy]

A twelve year old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia was treated with combination chemotherapy. Two weeks later a cellulitis of the left upper and lower eyelid appeared, followed by a rapidly increasing, deep necrotic inflammation of the periorbital area leading to proptosis. Mucormycosis was identified by histology and microbiology. The spreading inflammatory process was arrested by amphotericin B in a total dose of 1.2 g combined with a drainage of the necrotic tissue of the paranasal sinus, left orbit and bifrontal cerebral abscess. The patient is still in complete continuous remission four years later but a large defect of the nasal, maxillary and orbital area remains. This case demonstrates that the usual fatal outcome of mucormycosis in leukemia is curable with amphotericin B and aggressive surgery.