European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Rhino-Orbital-Cerebral Mucormycosis (ROCM) was an emerging threat among patients with Covid-19 during the pandemic year of 2021. Diagnosis of the disease in its early phase was crucial. A study was carried out to evaluate the role of CT and MRI in diagnosing and monitoring the treatment of Rhino-Orbito-Cerebral Mucormycosis and assess the disease’s outcome.
 
The characteristic imaging findings helped in accurately diagnosing the disease.  Some key diagnostic findings were; the involvement of the periantral fat favoring angioinvasive disease;  and empty turbinate sign correlating pathologically with fungal hyphae. Tiny focal air lucencies within the permeative pattern of bone destruction were exclusively seen in fungal osteomyelitis. Another important feature of the disease seen in our study was the “pseudo empty sinus sign” from mild enlargement/widening of predominantly the ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses due to the filling of the sinuses with fungal hyphae. The affected sinuses exhibited signal void/hypointense signal on T2 subtle iso-intense signal on T1 with mild patchy enhancement in the post-contrast study.