Gas Gangrene of the Spleen Caused by Clostridium perfringens After Mild Blunt Trauma

Splenic gas gangrene caused by  is rare. A 73-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of fatigue, dyspnea, and left hypochondrial pain. She had a history of blunt trauma to the left abdomen eight days ago. She presented with hypoxemia and a high inflammatory response on blood tests. A CT...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2024-04, Vol.16 (4), p.e57429
Main Authors: Takeuchi, Akira, Taki, Yusuke, Furuya, Kento, Ito, Kenta, Suzuki, Makoto, Sato, Shinsuke, Watanabe, Masaya, Ohata, Ko, Kanemoto, Hideyuki, Oba, Noriyuki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdomen
Abscesses
Antibiotics
Arteriosclerosis
Blood
Case reports
Emergency medical care
Females
Gangrene
General Surgery
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Hypoxemia
Infectious Disease
Laparotomy
Pathogens
Patients
Pleural effusion
Spleen
Streptococcus infections
Surgery
Toxins
Tumor necrosis factor-TNF
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Summary:Splenic gas gangrene caused by  is rare. A 73-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of fatigue, dyspnea, and left hypochondrial pain. She had a history of blunt trauma to the left abdomen eight days ago. She presented with hypoxemia and a high inflammatory response on blood tests. A CT showed left pleural effusion and gas in the spleen. She was treated with antimicrobials and underwent splenectomy.   was identified from blood and intraoperative ascites cultures. She recovered and was discharged on day 34 of hospitalization. As   is part of the normal gut microbiota and can translocate to other parts of the body, this bacterium should be considered a splenic abscess pathogen when an intracorporeal anaerobic environment is suspected.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.57429