title: Gas gangrene presenting with back pain.
abstract: A 61-year-old Caucasian man (previously fit and well) presented to the emergency department with 2 days of non-traumatic, non-radiating lower back pain. He was admitted to our department having been provisionally diagnosed with discitis. Later that night, while being reassessed, a skin lesion on his thigh appeared and gas could be palpated. The patient was then taken immediately to theatre and a radical surgical debridement was performed. The organism that grew from tissue samples was Clostridium septicum, which when identified is an indication to exclude colonic neoplasms. The patient managed to preserve his limb on this occasion, however, he underwent a right hemicolectomy for what proved to be a colonic tumour at a later date.
authors.affiliation: Wishaw General Hospital, Wishaw, UK.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Sayad
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chikate
authors.forename: Balasundaram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ramesh
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D052557:Clostridium septicum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003082:Colectomy / Q000379:methods; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003646:Debridement / Q000379:methods; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D015299:Discitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013848:Thigh; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents