Rare finding of mucorales sporangia and chlamydospores in tissue

Abstract

Most elements of filamentous fungi seen in human tissue by pathologists are hyphae, and encountering other elements may interfere with diagnosis. Sporangia and chlamydospores are such elements that have been described in only a few case reports. We present an autopsy case with the extremely rare coexistence of Mucorales sporangia and chlamydospores in the lung. These fungal elements must be recognized and identified accurately because they can easily be mistaken for other fungi, microorganisms, or degenerated tissue structures.

Keywords: autopsy; histology; lung; mucorales; pathology; polymerase chain reaction; sporangium; spores.