Clinical Profile of Necrotising Soft Tissue Infection Patients in a North Indian Hospital

Abstract

Background: Necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs) or necrotizing fasciitis are infections of the subcutaneous tissue and fascia with variable involvement of the overlying skin and underlying muscle. They can be initiated by trivial injuries and can be idiopathic. Material & Methods: It is an retrospective observational study conducted in our surgical unit of a tertiary care centre, from January 2017 to December 2022, were observed for age, gender, occupation, socioeconomic status, body mass index (BMI) clinical features, radiological findings (size, site, status, involvement of tissue compartments and bone). A total of 118 patient records were analyzed. Results: 60% patients were over 50 years of age and 64.2% were males. 69.85 cases had body mass index more than 30 kg/m2. 50.9% patients had history of alcohol abuse and 32.1% cases gave history of intravenous drug abuse. 73.6% cases had foul smelling discharge on presentation while fever and sepsis was seen in 64.2% and 52.8% cases, respectively. Lower limb and perineal involvement was seen in more than two third of the cases. 69.4% cases were anaemic while 44.1% had hypoalbuminemia. More than 85% cases had leucocytosis. 40.7% cases required ionotropes and 22.03% cases needed ventilatory support on admission. Diabetes mellitus was the most common associated co morbidity, seen in 53.4% cases. Conclusion: The necrotizing soft tissue infections are a significant health problem and carry high mortality and morbidity rates. The condition carries high association with modifiable risk factors like anaemia, hypoalbuminemia, diabetes mellitus and obesity.