Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne infectious disease. A 91-year-old woman was admitted to our intensive-care unit with SFTS, and she developed dyspnea with wheezes 5 days after admission. Bronchoscopy showed scattered white mold in her central airway. An airway tissue biopsy and culture of bronchial lavage fluid revealed fungal hyphae in the necrotic tissue, confirmed as Aspergillus fumigatus. She was thus diagnosed with pseudomembranous aspergillus tracheobronchitis. She had no common risk factors for invasive aspergillosis (IA). Patients with SFTS, even those without apparent risk factors for IA, may be at risk of developing IA.

Background It is difficult to predict the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Cerebral tissue oxygen saturation during CPR, as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), is anticipated to predict ROSC. General markers of cerebral tissue oxygen saturation, such as the tissue oxygenation index (TOI), mainly reflect venous oxygenation, whereas pulse-wave cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (SnO2), which represents hemoglobin oxygenation in the pulse wave within the cerebral tissue, is an index of arterial and venous oxygenation. Thus, SnO2 may reflect arterial oxygenation to a greater degree than does TOI. Therefore, we conducted this study to verify our hypothesis that SnO2 measured during CPR can predict ROSC. Methods Cardiac arrest patients who presented at the Emergency Department of Yamagata University Hospital in Japan were included in this retrospective, observational study. SnO2 and TOI were simultaneously measured at the patient’s forehead using an NIRS tissue oxygenation monitor (NIRO 200-NX; Hamamatsu Photonics, Japan). We recorded the initial, mean, and maximum values during CPR. We plotted receiver operating characteristic curves and calculated the area under the curve (AUC) to predict ROSC. Results Forty-two patients were included. SnO2 was significantly greater in the ROSC group than in the non-ROSC group in terms of the initial (37.5% vs 24.2%, p = 0.015), mean (44.6% vs 10.8%, p < 0.001), and maximum (79.7% vs 58.4%, p < 0.001) values. Although the initial TOI was not significantly different between the two groups, the mean (45.1% vs 36.8%, p = 0.018) and maximum (71.0% vs 46.3%, p = 0.001) TOIs were greater in the ROSC group than in the non-ROSC group. The AUC was 0.822 for the mean SnO2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.672–0.973; cut-off: 41.8%), 0.821 for the maximum SnO2 (95% CI: 0.682–0.960; cut-off: 70.8%), and 0.809 for the maximum TOI (95% CI: 0.667–0.951; cut-off: 49.3%). Conclusion SnO2 values measured during CPR, including immediately after arrival at the emergency department, were higher in the ROSC group than in the non-ROSC group.