Endogenous Aspergillus Uveitis Following Heart Surgery

ELEVEN cases of endogenousAspergillusinfection of the eye have been reported.1-11In eight, the fungus was identified by histologic examination alone, supported in the other three by culture ofAspergillusfrom sputum,2from pleural exudate at autopsy,9and from a thoracotomy specimen during life as well as several organs at autopsy.11Uveitis has also been reported in a patient with anAspergillusabscess in the lung, but no pathologic examination of the eye was possible.12 This communication reports a case of intraocular aspergillosis following heart surgery in which uveitis was the presenting sign of endocarditis with septic embolism. Report of a Case This 40-year-old white woman underwent open-heart surgery June 10, 1966 at another hospital for replacement of her mitral valve, deformed by rheumatic heart disease, with a Starr-Edwards prosthesis. Postoperatively, she was maintained on anticoagulants warfarin sodium (Coumadin Sodium) and digoxin. She made