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Abstract Introduction Necrotising Soft Tissue Infections (NSTI) are severe life-threatening conditions, which are increasing in incidence. Associated with high mortality and morbidity, NSTI’s are a significant burden to health care services globally. Identifying themes, risk factors and underlying causation is therefore of interest. Methods A retrospective data cohort study examining clinical data for all histologically confirmed NSTI cases in a single centre between 2012 to 2022 was conducted. Results 73 confirmed NSTI cases were identified. Patient co-morbidities included the following:CasesDiabetic34Smoker16Post-op12IVDU8Trauma7Immunosuppressed6Bowel Perf5Cancer5 68 patients underwent urgent surgical debridement, with an average of 3.59 (Range 1-11) further surgical interventions required. Patients spent an average of 8.24 days (Range 1-42 days) in ICU, with a hospital stay of 44.02 days. (Range 7-180 days) 6(8%) patients died (5 within first week of presentation). Defunctioning stomas were performed in 24 patients during the admission and 32 patients underwent reconstructive surgery after recovery from the acute phase. An array of causative organisms were identified with no clear delineating trends.NumberAnaerobes36Streptococcus35Staphylococcus20E Coli + Coliforms20Enterococcus15 Conclusion NSTIs continue to increase in incidence and prevalence. The old surgical adage ‘You will see one NSTI in your lifetime is no longer true. Associated morbidity and mortality is significant and a focus on early recognition and prevention is vital. Further larger data sets are required to delineate clear trends and associated risk factors that can effect meaningful health care policy change.
Pha et al. (Sun,) studied this question.