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Management of Fournier's gangrene: a practical guide for clinicians

Management of Fournier's gangrene: a practical guide for clinicians
Management of Fournier's gangrene: a practical guide for clinicians

Fournier's gangrene is a localised form of necrotising fasciitis affecting the external genitalia, perineal and perianal regions. Although rare, it is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality, so clinician awareness is essential for prompt treatment. Risk factors include diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic alcoholism and immunosuppression. Perineal pain in patients with sepsis should be treated with a high level of suspicion and early surgical referral is required as prompt debridement can improve outcomes. Repeated surgical intervention and antimicrobial therapy are often needed and recovery can take a long time, with a long-term impact on quality of life. This article discusses the natural history of Fournier's gangrene, aetiology, risk factors, investigations and treatments with an algorithm to support clinical practice.

Antibiotics, Fournier's gangrene, Necrotising fasciitis, Surgical debridement
1750-8460
Hughes, Thomas
af086fe2-c997-4a5f-9b7a-e8a866575d1b
Bowen, Daniel
fb4f15b9-fd1a-4149-8a4e-088dcbfe996d
Saeed, Kordo
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Juliebø-Jones, Patrick
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Somani, Bhaskar
ab5fd1ce-02df-4b88-b25e-8ece396335d9
Hughes, Thomas
af086fe2-c997-4a5f-9b7a-e8a866575d1b
Bowen, Daniel
fb4f15b9-fd1a-4149-8a4e-088dcbfe996d
Saeed, Kordo
87cb67e5-71e8-4759-bf23-2ea00ebd8b39
Juliebø-Jones, Patrick
9fab3a84-08a6-471a-b7ec-a10aa16c60e0
Somani, Bhaskar
ab5fd1ce-02df-4b88-b25e-8ece396335d9

Hughes, Thomas, Bowen, Daniel, Saeed, Kordo, Juliebø-Jones, Patrick and Somani, Bhaskar (2023) Management of Fournier's gangrene: a practical guide for clinicians. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 84 (9). (doi:10.12968/hmed.2023.0119).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Fournier's gangrene is a localised form of necrotising fasciitis affecting the external genitalia, perineal and perianal regions. Although rare, it is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality, so clinician awareness is essential for prompt treatment. Risk factors include diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic alcoholism and immunosuppression. Perineal pain in patients with sepsis should be treated with a high level of suspicion and early surgical referral is required as prompt debridement can improve outcomes. Repeated surgical intervention and antimicrobial therapy are often needed and recovery can take a long time, with a long-term impact on quality of life. This article discusses the natural history of Fournier's gangrene, aetiology, risk factors, investigations and treatments with an algorithm to support clinical practice.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 24 May 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 September 2023
Keywords: Antibiotics, Fournier's gangrene, Necrotising fasciitis, Surgical debridement

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 483841
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483841
ISSN: 1750-8460
PURE UUID: fef9c91d-ea22-4571-b3b4-879b766fbb08
ORCID for Kordo Saeed: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0123-0302

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Date deposited: 06 Nov 2023 18:22
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:06

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Contributors

Author: Thomas Hughes
Author: Daniel Bowen
Author: Kordo Saeed ORCID iD
Author: Patrick Juliebø-Jones
Author: Bhaskar Somani

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