title: Role of early and extensive surgery in the treatment of severe necrotizing soft tissue infection.
abstract: Forty-two patients with necrotizing soft tissue infection are reviewed. Bacterial culture revealed between two and seven types of micro-organism in each patient. All patients were treated with radical surgical debridement and a combination of antibiotics. In 30 patients, early diagnosis and treatment resulted in only two deaths. Delayed surgical intervention in 12 patients transferred from outside hospitals was followed by nine deaths. Predisposing factors and site of infection did not affect outcome. Of 26 patients with systemic manifestations of sepsis, 16 survivors responded well to initial surgical debridement.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, School of Health Sciences, University of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Voros
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pissiotis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Georgantas
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katsaragakis
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Antoniou
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
mesh_terms: D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000601:surgery*; D003646:Debridement; D005208:Fasciitis / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005734:Gangrene / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009336:Necrosis / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis