Airway centered invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in an immunocompetent patient: case report and literature review

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is caused by Aspergillus species, usually Aspergillus fumigatus, and involves the normal lung tissue. The diagnosis of proven IPA usually is based on histopathological confirmation with tissue invasion, including septated, acutely branching filamentous fungi, and a positive culture result for a specimen from a normally sterile site (1,2). It usually occurs in immunocompromised patients, especially in patients with neutropenia (2-4). Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis has been categorized into an angioinvasive and an airway centered invasive form depending on where Aspergillus mainly invades (2,4,5). Airway centered invasive aspergillosis accounts for 14？34% of the cases of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients (2,4,5). A few cases of angioinvasive pulmonary aspergillosis in individuals with normal immunity but without any chronic illness have been reported (6,7). However, very few cases of airway centered invasive aspergillosis in immunocompetent patients without chronic illness have been reported in the literature. Herein, we report the case of an immunocompetent patient with extensive airway centered invasive pulmonary aspergillosis