A histopathological approach to diagnosis and classification of invasive fungal infections

Abstract

The spectrum of invasive fungal diseases is wide and accurate subclassification has important epidemiological, prognostic and therapeutic implications. Fungi are commonly encountered in histopathological practice, and it is important for trainees and pathologists to have an awareness of the major categories and also to know of the limitations of histomorphological assessment and potential pitfalls in diagnostic assessment. This article focuses on invasive infections as categorized into thermally dimorphic, septate and pauciseptate hyaline mould and pigmented/dematiaceous fungi with discussion of morphology and tinctorial staining characteristics along with some necessary discussion of clinical and epidemiological factors and additional diagnostic methods including molecular techniques.