Rare finding of mucorales sporangia and chlamydospores in tissue

Most elements of filamentous fungi seen in human tissue by pathologists are hyphae, and encountering other elements may interfere with diagnosis. Sporangia and chlamydospores are such elements that have been described in only a few case reports. We present an autopsy case with the extremely rare coexistence of Mucorales sporangia and chlamydospores in the lung. These fungal elements must be recognized and identified accurately because they can easily be mistaken for other fungi, microorganisms, or degenerated tissue structures. We report the first case of the coexistence of sporangia and chlamydospores of Mucorales in the tissue of the lung. Sporangia are closed sac‐like structures containing asexual spores called sporangiospores (block arrows). Chlamydospores are thick‐walled resting spores formed within hyphae (arrows). It is emphasized that these fungal elements be recognized as such because they can be mistaken for other fungi, other microorganisms or degenerated tissue structures.