Are there any reasons to change our behavior in necrotizing fasciitis with the advent of new antibiotics?

Necrotising fasciitis: a narrative review of the literature

Necrotising fasciitis is a severe, life-threatening and rapidly progressive soft tissue infection that often requires aggressive surgical management, with an estimated incidence of about 0.24-0.40 per 100 000 in the UK. Necrotising fasciitis can be classified based on its microbiology or the anatomy or body region affected. Initial signs of necrotising fasciitis can be minimal and non-specific but a patient often presents with pain out of proportion to clinical signs on examination, as well as erythema and oedema, in addition to systemic symptoms associated with sepsis. Diagnosis is often based on high clinical suspicion with biochemical and clinical imaging used as adjuncts. To aid with early diagnosis of necrotising fasciitis, a scoring system known as the Laboratory Risk Indicator for necrotising fasciitis was developed which has a positive predictive value of 92%. Once diagnosed, appropriate resuscitation and antibiotics, along with prompt and aggressive surgical debridement, is the mainstay of treatment.

Necrotizing fasciitis in haematological patients: a different scenario

To describe and compare the characteristics of necrotizing fasciitis (NF) in patients with and without haematological malignancy. All adult patients diagnosed with NF and treated at our hospital were included (January 2010-March 2019). Diagnosis was based on intraoperative findings or consistent clinical/radiological characteristics, and patients were classified as group A (with haematological malignancy) or group B (without haematological malignancy). Student's t (quantitative), Fisher's exact (qualitative), and Kaplan-Meyer tests were used for the statistical analysis. The study included 29 patients: 8 in group A and 21 in group B. All haematological patients had severe neutropenia (0.2 [0.02-0.5] ×10⁹ cells/L; p < 0.001) and positive blood cultures (100% vs. 61.9%; p = 0.04) at diagnosis. Gram-negative bacilli NF was more common in group A (87.5% vs. 9.5%; p = 0.001), predominantly due to Escherichia coli (50% vs. 9.5%; p = 0.056). Surgical treatment was less common in haematological patients (5 [62.5%] vs. 21 [100%]; p = 0.015). Overall, 9 (31%) patients died: 4 (50%) in group A and 5 (23.8%) in group B (p = 0.17). The univariate analysis showed that mortality tended to be higher (OR 3.2; 95%CI 0.57-17.7; p = 0.17) and to occur earlier (2.2 ± 2.6 vs. 14.2 ± 19.9 days; p = 0.13) in haematological patients. The LRINEC index > 6 did not predict mortality in either group. In our study, NF in patients with haematological malignancies was mainly due to Gram-negative bacilli, associated to high and early mortality rates. In our experience, the LRINEC scale was not useful for predicting mortality.

The incidence and seasonal variation of necrotizing fasciitis in Korea: a nationwide cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rare but fatal disease, and there is no known annual incidence of NF in Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and seasonal variation of NF in Korea.

METHODS

We analysed claims from the nationwide Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. Patients who were hospitalized with an NF diagnosis code and received surgical intervention were classified as NF cases. Poisson regression models were used to assess the relationships of incidence rates with year, age and sex. A multivariate Poisson regression model was used to investigate variations in monthly NF incidence trends.

RESULTS

From 2012 to 2017, the overall average annual NF incidence rate was found to be 0.86 per 100 000 population. NF incidence increased with age and was 2.5 times higher among males across all age groups. Two-thirds of cases occurred among patients with diabetes. The peak NF incidence occurred during the summer. Multivariate Poisson regression modelling using national meteorological variables suggested that mean temperatures and number of NF cases in the previous month were associated with the number of NF cases in the current month.

DISCUSSION

Clinicians should consider NF when encountering an elderly man with diabetes during the summer.

Dalbavancin treatment in a deep sternal wound MRSA infection after coronary artery bypass surgery: a case report

BACKGROUND

A deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) can become a severe complication after cardiac surgery, with in-hospital mortality rates reaching up to 35%. Staphylococci, particularly methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), play important roles in its etiology.

CASE PRESENTATION

This case report presents a patient who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery, and suffered postoperatively from a DSWI caused by MRSA. The pathogen was susceptible to vancomycin and rifampicin in vitro; however, this therapy was clinically ineffective. Both clinical improvement and MRSA eradication were achieved after surgical debridement of the wound and the intravenous administration of dalbavancin.

CONCLUSIONS

We decided to administer dalbavancin because of its convenient pharmacological profile. The patient's tolerance of the antimicrobial was good, the biochemical markers of inflammation returned to the normal ranges, and the microbiological results one week after the dalbavancin administration were negative. A good clinical outcome was achieved with both the surgery and antimicrobial administration. In this case, dalbavancin was more effective in the treatment of the sternal and surrounding tissue infections caused by MRSA, when compared to vancomycin.