A case of postsurgical necrotizing fasciitis invading the rectus abdominis muscle and review of the literature

Francesco Carbonetti; Antonio Cremona; Marco Guidi; Valentina Carusi

doi:10.1155/2014/479057

A case of postsurgical necrotizing fasciitis invading the rectus abdominis muscle and review of the literature

Case Rep Med. 2014:2014:479057. doi: 10.1155/2014/479057. Epub 2014 Feb 23.

Authors

Francesco Carbonetti¹, Antonio Cremona¹, Marco Guidi², Valentina Carusi³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035 Cap, 00189 Rome, Italy.
² Department of Orthopaedics, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035 Cap, 00189 Rome, Italy.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Via di Grottarossa 1035 Cap, 00189 Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Necrotizing fasciitis is a life-threatening, soft tissue infection and an early diagnosis is needed to permit a prompt surgical and medical intervention. Due to the high fatal potential of the disease complications, the radiologist should distinguish necrotizing fasciitis from the most common soft tissue infections, in order to permit a prompt surgical and medical treatment. We present a case of a wide necrotizing fasciitis who presented at our emergency department and we also provide the basic tools, through a review of the literature, for the general radiologist to distinguish, with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, necrotizing fasciitis from the most common infections that could present during our routine practice.