INVASIVE CLOSTRIDIUM-SEPTICUM INFECTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH COLORECTAL-CARCINOMA

The association between invasive Clostridium septicum infection and co lorectal carcinoma is examined by the presentation of three cases and a review of the literature. In the first two cases the patients presen ted with nontraumatic metastatic clostridial gas gangrene. In the thir d case a patient with chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression from conco mitant multiple myeloma had a necrotizing transmural infection of the right colon. The apparent portal of entry of Clostridium septicum was an occult carcinoma of the ascending colon. The increasing evidence fo r a strong link between this organism and some cases of neutropenic en terocolitis is reviewed.