Nontraumatic Gas Gangrene

Abstract

A 77-year-old man with a history significant only for coronary artery disease presented to the ED with left-arm pain, shortness of breath, nausea, and diaphoresis. Six hours after the patient's admission to the hospital for presumed unstable angina, fever and left arm swelling, associated with crepitus and violaceous bullae, developed. The patient was taken to the operating room, where he was found to have extensive myonecrosis requiring forequarter amputation of the left arm. Nontraumatic clostridial myonecrosis is a fulminant, often fatal infection. This rare condition is usually caused by Clostridium septicum and has a high association with underlying malignancy. The patient reported here was found to have a colonic lesion and acute leukemia, both previously undiagnosed. This case illustrates the insidious manner in which spontaneous myonecrosis may present. [Valentine EG: Nontraumatic gas gangrene. Ann Emerg Med July 1997;30:109-111.]