[Postoperative necrotizing fasciitis of the anterior abdominal wall]

Postoperative necrotizing fasciitis of the anterior abdominal wall is a serious and life-endangering complication of an acute progressive synergistic infective process. There is an absolute increase in its incidence rate attributable to a number of situations in modern life. Morphological and clinical studies are carried out on personal case material of 28 patients, followed up over a 3-year period. The presence of aerobic-anaerobic mixed polyinfection, consisting of average 3.75 bacterial species of which 1.43 aerobes and 2.32 anaerobes, is demonstrated microbiologically. Of the latter non-spore-bearing obligate anaerobes predominate among which B fragillis is the most common. As shown by the study, the process is characterized by slow initial course with ensuring rapid spreading by neighbourhood. The process reveals all signs of a mixed aerobic-anaerobic polyinfection, thereby necessitating subordination of both antibiotic therapy and surgical tactics to the latter.