[Subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis in the state of Pará: a report of 3 cases].

Three cases of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis from the state of Pará, Brazil are reported. This is the first time that this form of phaeohyphomycosis is described in northern Brazil. The etiologic agents could not isolated, and the diagnosis in all cases was established only on histopathological basis, particularly through the demonstration of fungal elements in tissue sections. Hyphal fragments and vesicular cells were very numerous and conspicuous in special (Grocott and Fontana-Masson methods) stained sections, in contrast to their apparent scarcity in routine hematoxilin-eosin preparations. The difference was certainly due to the aspect in the latter of the invasive tissue forms: the thin-walled and light brown pigmented organisms stained poorly and were very difficult to distinguish from the tissue components.