This project, locally called Fungicases, emerged through the sponsorship of Gilead Portugal, who painstakingly encouraged physicians from major hospitals across the nation to write their most unusual clinical cases of patients with invasive fungal infections. It has to be acknowledged that Gilead never restricted the choice of the clinical cases by the use of specific antifungal drugs, namely liposomal amphotericin B. This was very well established upfront. The choice of the editors was determined only by the rarity and thoroughness of the case report. From a total of 21 clinical cases, nine well-documented clinical cases were selected for publication. You will find a spectrum ranging from relatively straightforward case reports in which a specific antifungal drug was effective, to more complex descriptions in which physicians felt the need to use various antifungal agents. This illustrates the not so unusual reality of the high-risk patient with probable or confirmed invasive fungal infection. As the format of the publication usually requires a review on a specific drug, it was only natural that a summary of the main indications of liposomal amphotericin B was included.

We hope that the medical community finds this uncommon collection of case reports instructive and helpful for the management of future patients with invasive fungal infections.

João Forjaz de Lacerda

Carlos Meneses de Oliveira

Ben de Pauw