[Autopsy findings in patients with repeated demonstration of Candida glabrata]

In our mycological laboratory we saw an increase of Candida glabrata isolates from 0.5% in 1993 to 22.2% in 1996, mainly isolates of high risk patients of intensive care units and oncological wards. We were interested to know whether this increase of C. glabrata is also corresponding to the number of endomycoses. Eighteen patients have been autopsied and examined histologically. During the hospital course we found repeatedly in all patients C. glabrata with or without C. albicans. Serological and culture results of this intensive care/oncological patients were indicative of an invasive endomycosis. In 12 of 18 patients there was no evidence of an invasive mycosis in autopsy tissues. Three patients had a typical aspergillosis of the lungs, which was not diagnosed during hospital course. In 5 patients, two of them with aspergillosis of the lungs, we found in kidney or lung tissue sporadic yeast cells, typified by size and missing pseudomycelium as C. glabrata. In no case a tissue reaction as an intravital defense reaction against these yeast cells was observed. Therefore, we interpreted the findings of C. glabrata in tissues as representing a transient fungemia and not as an endomycosis due to C. glabrata.