Treating necrotizing fasciitis patients at the topmost referral hospital in West Java, Indonesia: 6 years experience.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a progressive and rare disease, with high potential to be life-threatening because of its potential for systemic toxicity. Characterized by fascial infection, it is often followed by systemic toxicity, such as septic shock and multi-organ failure. The aim of this study is to establish reliable data on the treatment of necrotizing fasciitis patients at the topmost referral hospital in West Java, Indonesia. We collected medical record data from January 2015 to December 2021 at Rumah Sakit Umum Pusat Dr. Hasan Sadikin (RSHS), Bandung, Indonesia. We recorded the infection region, bacterial isolates, empirical antibiotics, waiting time for the first surgery, surgical management, length of stay and we analysed the pattern of bacterial isolates, antibiotic use, waiting time for the first surgery, length of stay and mortality. A total of 90 patients' medical records were analysed. We found that the infection was most found in the genitalia and inguinal region (37%). Eighty-five percent of all samples containing gram-negative bacteria. The most used empirical antibiotics were from Cephalosporin class (31%), most of them combined with nitroimidazole (metronidazole) and with quinolones (levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin). Overall mortality rate was 13.3%. Highest mortality rate came from gram-negative bacteria group (14.2%-11 out of 77 patients), patients receiving Ceftriaxone-Metronidazole as empirical antibiotics (28.57%-4 out of 14 patients), patients with no surgery group (37%-3 out of 8 patients), with no mortality came from patients, which were performed debridement followed by fasciotomy/skin graft/flap and amputation. We conclude that the most found bacterial aetiology was Acinetobacter baumanii though it has no significant relation to mortality. We highly recommend early aggressive surgical intervention in reducing mortality rate due to necrotizing fasciitis for source control accompanied by deliberate defect closure and early administration of empirical antibiotics with more susceptibility for gram-negative bacteria, such as Meropenem.

Achilles tendon reconstruction with a half-width Achilles graft and wrap-around fascial flap.

A 70-year-old man complained imbalance while walking, inability to perform ankle flexion, and could not stand on tip-toe 3 months after injury. The ankle looked swollen with loss of Achilles contour and obvious gait disturbance. Magnetic resonance imaging shows a 5-cm Achilles tendon gap. Subsequently, surgery was performed to solve the neglected Achilles tendon rupture. Patient was put under general anesthesia with a regional block. Using a non-tourniquet technique, a reconstructive procedure was performed using a half-width autologous Achilles tendon graft, which was attached to the calcaneal prominence with wire in a double strand Bunnell fashion. As for the proximal stump, double core Bunnell/modified Kessler suturing was carried out to suture the graft to Achilles stump. To increase the vascularization, an ipsilateral gastrocnemius fascial flap with a distally based-pedicle was harvested to wrap around the tendon graft. At a 6-month follow-up, the patient was able to stand on tip-toe and had also regained a normal gait.