Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2021; 9(21): 6005-6008
Published online Jul 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i21.6005
Isolated fungus ball in a single cell of the left ethmoid roof: A case report
Liu-Qing Zhou, Ming Li, Yong-Qin Li, Yan-Jun Wang
Liu-Qing Zhou, Ming Li, Yong-Qin Li, Yan-Jun Wang, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Wang YJ and Zhou LQ designed the research study; Zhou LQ, Li YQ, and Li M analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan-Jun Wang, MD, Adjunct Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1277 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China. yjwang@hust.edu.cn
Received: January 26, 2021
Peer-review started: January 26, 2021
First decision: April 29, 2021
Revised: May 7, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2021
Article in press: June 3, 2021
Published online: July 26, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Isolated fungus ball (FB) in a single cell of the left ethmoid roof is a very rare condition.

CASE SUMMARY

We report the case of a 51-year-old female patient whose computed tomography presented a soft tissue mass filling in the left ethmoid roof cell. The patient did not complain of any specific sinonasal symptoms, such as nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, and loss of smell, apart from headache in the left retro-orbital region.

CONCLUSION

The patient underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery under general anesthesia, and the inflammatory material collected was histologically diagnosed as a rare case of a FB in a single cell of the left ethmoid roof.

Keywords: Fungus ball, Ethmoid roof cell, Headache, Computed tomography, Case report

Core Tip: In this case, preoperative computed tomography did not lead to the correct diagnosis, which showed a round soft tissue mass in the left ethmoid sinus without any calcification. Functional endoscopic sinus surgery in the patient revealed cheesy, clay-like material that was highly suggestive of a fungus ball (FB). The histological investigation confirmed the accurate diagnosis; however, negative results were obtained from FB cultures.