Alam M, Higgins R, Alam Z, Janakiraman N, Gorman M
Echocardiography Laboratory, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 1998 Jan;11(1):83-5. doi: 10.1016/s0894-7317(98)70127-0.
Cardiac fungal infections have become more prevalent and are being diagnosed with increasing frequency. The most common infective organism is Candida albicans, followed by Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus. Cardiac involvement is usually associated with endocarditis, myocarditis, pericarditis, or intracardiac fungal mass. Early diagnosis is imperative, as these patients have poor outcome once there is cardiac involvement. In this report we describe a patient in whom an intracardiac mass was detected with transesophageal echocardiography and confirmed to be aspergillus fungal ball at surgery.
