Necrotizing Fasciitis (NF) is a rapidly progressive and potentially lethal infection. This systematic review focused on the treatment and prognosis of the NF of the hand. The literature search was performed in PubMed database, and cohort studies and case reports were deemed eligible. Proportions were pooled to estimate overall mortality and amputation rates, and a logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate predictors of amputation and mortality. The search algorithm resulted in 51 eligible articles including 48 case reports (54 patients) and 3 larger retrospective cohort studies (107 patients). Most patients had a monomicrobial infection, a surgical debridement on the day of admission, and hospital stay of more than 10 days. The estimated overall amputation rate was 28%, whereas overall mortality was equal to 8%. In the pooled set of case reports, mortality was significantly associated with age older than 54 years and marginally with diabetes mellitus. Necrosis expanding more proximally to the forearm correlated with both amputation and mortality. It is reiterated that early diagnosis of NF is of paramount importance and that early and decisive surgical intervention should have low threshold, especially when potential risk factors are identified.
Keywords: amputation; hand infection; meta-analysis; necrotizing fasciitis; systematic review.