Profile of patients with Fournier’s gangrene and their clinical evolution

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the profile of patients with Fournier’s gangrene treated in a public tertiary hospital in western Paraná State. Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective and descriptive study of patients with Fournier’s gangrene treated between January 2012 and November 2016. Results: there were 40 patients with Fournier’s gangrene treated in the period, 29 (72.5%) men and 11 (27.5%) women. The mean age was 51.7±16.3 years. The mean time of disease progression, from the initial symptom to hospitalization, was 10.5±1.2 days. All patients had clinical signs such as pain, bulging, erythema, among others, and 38 (95%) had associated comorbidities, the most common being type 2 diabetes mellitus and systemic arterial hypertension. The majority (30 patients - 75%) had perianal abscess as the probable etiology. All patients were submitted to antibiotic therapy and surgical treatment, with a mean of 1.8±1.1 surgeries per patient. Nine (22.5%) patients died. There was a strong correlation between the presence of sepsis on admission and mortality. Conclusion: Fournier’s gangrene patients in this series had a long disease duration and a high prevalence of comorbidities, with a high mortality rate