title: Necrotizing fasciitis: a surgical emergency.
abstract: Accurate assessment and timely interventions are critical in the treatment of patients affected with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare, fulminating, potentially life-threatening, infectious process of the soft tissues. Understanding the natural history and unique characteristics of this disease is crucial to achieve early recognition, effective management and a favorable patient outcome. Classic symptoms include severe pain, erythema, mottling, crepitus, skin anesthesia, warmth, tenderness, bullous formations and edema in the affected area and fever. This article aims at reviewing the information known about this disease, collected from various sources. Radical surgical debridement, broad-spectrum antibiotics, negative pressure wound therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy are considered to be the cornerstones of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Chirurgia Generale e Toracica, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Arcispedale Sant'Anna, Ferrara, Italy, damiano.detullio@email.it.
authors.forename: Damiano
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Tullio
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolzon
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scagliarini
authors.forename: Savino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Occhionorelli
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003646:Debridement; D019115:Fasciitis, Necrotizing; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents