Abstract: Objective To investigate the prevalence of systemic fungal infection in patients at autopsy and its association with clinical data.Methods The materials from unselected adult patients were examined at necropsy in our hospital from 1971 to 2000,and the fungal species were identified by their morphologies in pathology.The clinical and pathological data were compared.Results The rate of fungal infection was 7.8%(31/396) among 396 cases.Seventeen(54.8%) of the 31 cases were infected with aspergillus.The frequencies of organs involved with fungal infection were 83.87% in lungs,48.39% in kidneys,35.48% in brain and 29.03% in heart,respectively.The fungal infection attributed directly to death in 21 cases.Conclusion Systemic fungal infection is one of the most common fatal causes among the critically ill patients,and aspergillosis becomes a major pathogenic fungus for patients with systemic fungal infection at autopsy.

Key words: Mycoses, Autopsy