간이식 환자에서 발생한 하악골의 비침윤성 모균증: 법랑모세포종과 동반된 증례

Abstract

Mucormycosis is an aggressive opportunistic fungal infection that can be found in the oral cavity. The fungus usually affects the immunocompromised patients and tends to invade and block blood vessels, resulting in significant tissue necrosis and invasive mucormycosis. However, a non-invasive form of mucormycosis is mostly asymptomatic and found accidentally in the immunocompetent normal hosts, manifested by localized overgrowth of the fungus. Here, we report a rare case of asymptomatic non-invasive mucormycosis of the mandible that was incidentally diagnosed in wide resection specimen of liver transplant patient who had previously underwent surgery of excision and simultaneous alloplastic bone graft due to mandibular ameloblastoma. Histopathological examination of the specimen revealed that there was neither vasculitis nor tissue necrosis, but numerous fungal hyphae were located only within the alloplastic graft materials in decalcified tissue sections. Awareness of the possibility of life-threatening mucormycosis in immunocompromised patients should be emphasized because it can be inactive or reactivated depending on the immune state of patients.