Necrotizing soft tissue infection

Last revised by Henry Knipe on 17 Jun 2019

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Deng F, Knipe H, Necrotizing soft tissue infection. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 23 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-68860

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-68860

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/68860

rID:

68860

Article created:

16 Jun 2019, Francis Deng ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Francis Deng had no recorded disclosures.

View Francis Deng's current disclosures

Last revised:

17 Jun 2019, Henry Knipe ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Henry Knipe had no recorded disclosures.

View Henry Knipe's current disclosures

Revisions:

2 times, by 2 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal

Tags:

infectiousdisease, infectious disease

Synonyms:

Necrotising soft tissue infection (NSTI)

Necrotizing soft tissue infections are a category of bacterial infection characterized by rapidly progressive tissue destruction involving the skin, subcutaneous fat, deep fascia, and/or muscle.

Terminology

Traditionally, such infections have been separated by the depth of involvement ^1,2:

necrotizing fasciitis, the most well known
necrotizing myositis, including clostridial myonecrosis (gas gangrene)
necrotizing cellulitis/adipositis

For several reasons, however, the overarching term of "necrotizing soft tissue infection" has been promoted. Involvement of adjacent levels can occur and, adding to the confusion, different authors and practitioners disagree on the definition of fascia ^2,3. Moreover, the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations overlap. Most importantly, the management strategy for different necrotizing soft tissue infections is similar ^1,4-6.