PURPOSE: To report rapidly progressive rhino-orbitocerebral mucormycosis in a 47-year-old woman with both diabetes mellitus and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). METHOD: Case report including postmortem examination of the eyes, orbit, and brain of a patient with rhino-orbitocerebral mucormycosis, diabetes mellitus, and AIDS. RESULTS: Invasion by hyphae of the Rhizopus species produced an occlusive vasculitis and massive infarction of the optic chiasm. Fungal organisms were discovered in multiple granulomata of the optic nerve. CONCLUSION: Infarction at the optic chiasm probably caused sudden blindness in this patient.
PURPOSE: To report rapidly progressive rhino-orbitocerebral mucormycosis in a 47-year-old woman with both diabetes mellitus and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). METHOD: Case report including postmortem examination of the eyes, orbit, and brain of a patient with rhino-orbitocerebral mucormycosis, diabetes mellitus, and AIDS. RESULTS: Invasion by hyphae of the Rhizopus species produced an occlusive vasculitis and massive infarction of the optic chiasm. Fungal organisms were discovered in multiple granulomata of the optic nerve. CONCLUSION:Infarction at the optic chiasm probably caused sudden blindness in this patient.