Oesophageal mucormycosis managed with antifungal therapy alone with PET/CT for monitoring treatment response: a case report and a review of the literature

Oesophageal mucormycosis is an uncommon life-threatening opportunistic fungal infection usually managed with antifungal therapy and aggressive surgical debridement. We describe a 54-year-old male who developed oesophageal mucormycosis 3 months post-allograft for multiply-relapsed leukaemia. Surgery was not performed due to prohibitive perioperative risk. He received 6 weeks of intravenous Liposomal Amphotericin B followed by long-term isavuconazole. Serial endoscopy and PET/CT imaging demonstrated resolution of infection to 7 months post-transplant where he died from relapsed leukaemia. We demonstrate that antifungal therapy alone may be efficacious where surgery is contraindicated and highlight the utility of PET/CT imaging for staging and monitoring this disease.