Rhinocerebral mucormycosis: Therapy with amphotericin B lipid complex

Rhinocerebral mucormycosis with intracranial involvement has a high mortality. The standard therapy consists of aggressive surgical debridement accompanied by high doses of amphotericin B deoxycholate. Even with this therapy, the mortality rate has been 48% in the series reported since 1980. We treated a 60-year-old diabetic woman with rhinocerebral mucormycosis involving the cavernous sinus whose infection responded to medical therapy with amphotericin B lipid complex. To our knowledge, this is the only well- documented medical care of a patient with rhinocerebral mucormycosis and intracranial involvement.