Necrotizing Fasciitis After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Rare Case Presentation

Abstract

Background: Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a life-threatening disease. Arthroplasty pa-tients with underlying or preexisting conditions and chronic medication use are prone to infection. The current report aimed to present a 53 years old female patient who developed necrotizing fasciit-is one month after total hip arthroplasty. Case presentation: On the postoperative 15th day, she had wound discharge. She was given oral an-ti-biotherapy. At postoperative 1 month, her complaints increased. At emergency service, she expe-rienced extreme pain in her lower extremity with pseudoparalysis, and a hip X-ray revealed gas im-ages. She used prednisolone for 10 years and insulin for 15 years because of pemphigus vulgaris and diabetes mellitus. Clinical and laboratory findings led us to the diagnosis of necrotizing fasciit-is. Despite aggressive treatment, including debridement, prosthesis removal, and antibiotherapy, un-fortunately, the patient died 13 days after admission. Conclusion: Patients with an immune suppressive condition, long-term corticosteroid use, or multi-ple underlying diseases should be closely monitored after total hip arthroplasty surgery to avoid such a devastating complication.