Maxillary sinusitis caused by Pleurophomopsis lignicola

An immunocompetent 59-year-old man developed sinusitis over a 6- to 8-month period after cutting down a rotted maple tree (Acer sp.). A polypoid obstruction with a bloody drainage was evident in his right nasal cavity. A computed tomographic scan showed an opacification of the maxillary sinus. Surgery was performed to remove a fungus ball that had extended into the patient's medial sinus cavity. Sections of the sinonasal mucosa revealed marked acute and chronic sinusitis with inflammation, congestion, and hemorrhage. Sections from the pasty brown to black debrided material revealed a fungus ball consisting of an extensive network of brown-pigmented, septate, profusely branched hyphae. When grown on oat agar, the phaeoid fungus produced pycnidia and was identified as Pleurophomopsis lignicola. The genus Pleurophomopsis includes seven species, which are all known from plant material. This report documents for the first time a coelomycetous fungus, P. lignicola, causing sinusitis in an immunocompetent patient.