Open surgical approach to management of rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background: </strong>Since December 2019, when novel corona virus (COVID 19) was reported, it has spread widely to cause a pandemic. Rhino-orbito-cerebral Mucormycosis (ROCM), an opportunistic fungal infection caused by the order Mucorales and class Zygomycetes has led to an epidemic in our country.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods: </strong>This prospective cross sectional study was conducted at a 1200 bed tertiary care teaching hospital in Mysore. All patients of ROCM who presented to us for treatment were selected for the study after informed consent. Only those patients who were operated via open approach were included.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Median age of the patients was 50 years (SD±10). 49 were male patients (67.1%). Diabetes mellitus was the most common underlying co-morbidity seen in 71 patients (97.3%). Facial pain (100%) and facial swelling (90.4%) were the most common presenting complaint. KOH positivity from nasal swab for Mucormycosis was positive in only 37 patients (50.7%). Traditional inaccessible areas to endoscope like the premaxilla, lateral orbit cavity, infra temporal fossa and hard palate were tackled by the open surgical approach route. Advantages of open surgical approach being the access to areas which are traditionally difficult to approach via the endoscope, aggressive debridement is possible which might be challenging endoscopically. Complications like wound dehiscence, oro-antral fistula, osteomyelitis and abscess were noted in our study.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Open surgical approach offers a very viable, affordable and a very effective means for aggressive surgical debridement of infection and reduce mortality associated with ROCM.</p><p> </p>