Soft tissue Tumors - Necrotizing fasciitis

Home Chapter Home Jobs Conferences Fellowships Books

Soft Tissue Tumors

Infections, inflammation and hematomas

Necrotizing fasciitis

Reviewer: Komal Arora, M.D. (see Reviewers page)
Revised: 18 July 2012, last major update July 2012
Copyright: (c) 2003-2012, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

General
=========================================================================

● Uncommon fulminant soft tissue infection characterized by extensive fascial necrosis
● Usually due to group A streptococci, also community-acquired MRSA (Surg Infect (Larchmt) 2008;9:469)
● May be due to Clostridium perfringens and cause gas gangrene (Cases J 2008 Oct 20;1(1):252)

Clinical features
=========================================================================

● Fatal if untreated
● 15% mortality even if treated (Epidemiol Infect 2009;137:1609)
● Particularly serious in patients with badly controlled diabetes (Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2008;80:218)

Treatment
=========================================================================

● Promptly start antibiotics and aggressive debridement (World J Emerg Surg 2007;2:19, J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2009;17:174)

Case reports
=========================================================================

● Due to Pseudomonas (Intern Med 2008;47:553)

Clinical images
=========================================================================

Gas gangrene

Right shoulder

Left leg

Micro images
=========================================================================

Infected tissue with gas-inclusion between the muscle fibers

Gram positive rods

Gluteal gas gangrene with necrotizing fasciitis #1, #2

Gas gangrene #1, #2

Necrotic muscle with gas bubbles but minimal inflammation

Leg lesion

Necrotizing fasciitis and panniculitis (pneumococci) #1, #2

Pneumococcal sepsis #1, #2

Septic thrombus

Associated vasculitis

Gram stain #1, #2, #3

Additional references
=========================================================================

● eMedicine #1, #2
● J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2012;72:560

End of Soft Tissue Tumors > Infections, inflammation and hematomas > Necrotizing fasciitis

This information is intended for physicians and related personnel, who understand that medical information is often imperfect, and must be interpreted in the context of a patient's clinical data using reasonable medical judgment. This website should not be used as a substitute for the advice of a licensed physician.

All information on this website is protected by copyright of PathologyOutlines.com, Inc. Information from third parties may also be protected by copyright. Please contact us at copyrightPathOut@gmail.com with any questions (click here for other contact information).