Mumbai: Mucormycosis, bleeding pituitary gland in Covid patient stump doctors

The mystery of infections triggered by Covid19 continues to baffle doctors with the latest being a 46yearold woman developing rare complications after she contracted the CoronavirusThe South Mumbai resident was brought to Mumbai Centralrsquos Wockhardt Hospital with severe headache complaints She was diagnosed with pituitary adenoma macro benign tumour growth in pituitary gland with bleeding in the pituitary glandldquoShe had no comorbidities like diabetes or hypertension Before coming to us she had a history of fever and inflammation of her salivary glands for 8 days When we saw her she had a severe headache no fever on admission The Rapid Antigen and RTPCR tests for Covid were negative Even the CT Scan didnrsquot say muchrdquo said Dr Kedar Toraskar critical care specialist Wockhardt HospitalAn MRI scan showed a bigger problem ldquoThe bleeding in the pituitary gland called as pituitary apoplexy is one of the literature reported complications of Covid19 It is a rare complication We repeated the RTPCR for the third time and it came positiverdquo said Dr ToraskarHe said by the time the third test came positive her condition had worsened ldquoShe had swelling in the eye region got a fever We evaluated her for mucormycosis The second MRI scan showed presence of mucormycosisrdquo said Dr ToraskarHe added that she also had fungal meningitis wherein the infection had spread from her bloodstream to the brain or spinal cordldquoWe have not seen so many complications in a person that too when she didnrsquot have any comorbidity It proves that Covid19 is an independent risk factor for mucormycosis Normally preCovid19 era we saw mucormycosis in diabetic patients with uncontrolled diabetes and on immunosuppressants or in posttransplant patients This patient was not even on steroidsrdquo While the woman passed away after 15 days Dr Toraskar said even the bleeding in the pituitary gland is rare in Covid cases ldquoShe had mucormycosis pituitary macroadenoma pituitary bleed together The rapid deterioration of her condition too stumped us We wish we could save her We are going to present this case in the medical journal because of the rare representationrdquo said Dr ToraskarDr Vasant Nagvekar infectious disease expert at Global Hospital shared a similar experience ldquoWe saw one case of Covid19 who had pituitary gland involvement and had mucormycosis He was 45yearold and we had to operate on him and for pituitary gland we replaced the hormone deficiency However he was a known diabetic patient who had uncontrolled blood sugar levelsrdquo said Dr NagvekarTalking about the virus being the sole reason for mucormycosis Dr Nagvekar said his team saw 10 per cent of the total mucormycosis patients not having diabetes or being on steroids and still getting the infection after contracting Covid19ldquoAny dental complaints numbness on the face after being tested positive for Covid19 has to be taken seriously and shown to the doctorrdquo said Dr Nagvekar15No of days after which the victim died