Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of invasive fungal infection at autopsy.
Method: To retrospectively analyse 3447 autopsy cases in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 1953 to 1993.
Results: There were 85 cases of invasive fungal infection at autopsy among 3447 cases. The prevalence steadily increased, especially during the recent 20 years. Among the 85 cases, only 5 patients were diagnosed clinically (5.9%). The primary diseases were mainly leukemia, cancer, and sepsis. Lung was involved in 70% of the cases, and 85% of the pathogens were fungi.
Conclusions: Fungus has become a major pathogen in nosocomial infection. The prophylactic use of antifungal agents is recommended in high-risk patients because of the difficulty to establish the clinical diagnosis of invasive fungal infection.