Anærobic Cellulitis—Due to Perforation of the Colon

Abstract

Anærobic cellulitis is a rare but not unknown complication of a number of lesions affecting the alimentary canal, the cause being a perforation which may be due to trauma, an inflammatory process or neoplasm. In many cases the patient dies, for diagnosis is seldom easy until the infection is well established; the possibility of using the services of the X-ray department is seldom realised. The following account is given of a most interesting and unusual case. H.W., aged 58 years, was admitted to the Radcliffe Infirmary on June 1, 1945, under the care of Mr. Max Page. He had been quite well until ten days previously, when he began to have attacks of pain in the region of the left hip. Each attack began with a slight sensation of bubbling in the left side of his lower abdomen, which suddenly ceased and was replaced by a sensation of tension and pressure, and was accompanied by intense pain over the left hip. The pain persisted for about half an hour and then it eased and disappeared; he associated the relief of pain with the disappearance of the sensation of pressure in his abdomen. At first the attacks occurred only once a day, but later he had several daily. Some of these attacks were very severe and his doctor had given him morphia. While the attacks were on he had kept to his bed, but at other times he had been up and about. For ten days he had felt generally unwell.