Histoplasmosis presenting as a neck mass

✍ Scribed by Belani, Anusha ;Shands, Joseph W.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1987
• Weight: 230 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-6403
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.2890090411

✦ Synopsis

A unilateral neck mass is an unusual clinical presentation for histoplasmosis. A patient with a large, unilateral neck mass caused by Histoplasma capsulatum is presented to alert readers to such a possibility and to illustrate some of the difficulties in diagnosing and managing the disease. HEAD 81 NECK SURGERY 9:253-255,

1987

Histoplasmosis is a fungal disease endemic in the midwest and in the Mississippi valley. Primary infection with Histoplasma capsulatum usually presents as pulmonary disease, but disseminated disease may present with ulcerations of the oropharynx and thereby come to the attention of the otolaryngologist. 1-5 Although mediastinal masses and cervical lymphadenopathy have been reported in histoplasmosis, a neck mass is distinctly u n ~s u a l . ~. ~ This is a brief report of a patient who presented with a neck mass, which was thought to be a malignancy but was found to be a very large histoplasmoma.

The patient, a 76-year-old white woman, was born and raised in Tennessee and Kentucky but had lived for the last 2 decades in Crystal River, Florida. Her general health was good, except for