Necrotizing fasciitis due to appendicitis

Necrotizing fasciitis, although rare, is one of the more serious, life-thre atening complications of missed acute appendicitis. Patients who are predis posed to developing necrotizing fasciitis, regardless of the cause, are typ ically immunocompromised. We present a case of a 49-year-old immunocompeten t female whose diagnosis of acute appendicitis was missed and who subsequen tly developed necrotizing fasciitis of the abdominal wall and flank. She re covered 1 month after admission due to aggressive surgical and medical ther apy. Copyright (C) by W.B Saunders Company.