Ex vivo confocal microscopy: a new diagnostic technique for XXXX .

@entity8574 @entity8379 @entity2583 @entity5 @entity364
BACKGROUND: Skin-dedicated @entity8379 ( @entity8379 ) has so far mainly been employed to identify cutaneous @entity5 on freshly excised samples. We present two cases where @entity8379 has been used to diagnose @entity2583 . METHODS: The skin biopsies were evaluated by the skin-dedicated ex vivo confocal microscope VivaScope 2500(  ) (MAVIG GmbH, Munich Germany) under both reflectance and fluorescence mode. Conventional direct optical examination on skin scraping and histological examination were later performed. RESULTS: Mucormycetes observed by @entity8379 presented as hyper-reflective elongated 20  m in diameter structures with perpendicular ramifications. Fungi were found both under reflectance and fluorescence mode and were better visible with @entity8574 orange under fluorescence @entity8379 . Conventional direct optical examination on skin scraping and histological examination found the same elongated and branching structures confirming the presence of Mucormycetes. CONCLUSIONS: Ex vivo confocal microscopy has both the advantages of being fast as the direct optical examination, and to be able to show the localisation of the fungi in the tissue like the histological examination. In our cases, @entity8379 allowed to rapidly confirm the clinical diagnosis of @entity2583 , which is essential for the treatment of this @entity364 . Further studies are needed to compare the performance of @entity8379 with the findings of conventional histological and mycological examinations.
