Fournier's gangrene: can aggressive treatment save life?

Fournier's gangrene (FG) is a rapidly progressive, fulminant infection of the scrotum, perineum and the abdominal wall. FG is caused by synergic aerobic and anaerobic organisms. Modern surgical series report mortality of up to 67%. This originally rare disease has become more frequent. Aggressive treatment including antibiotics, antigangrenous serum, and treatment of all accompanied diseases and disorders can be successful. Treatment also includes debridement and plastic corrections. Authors describe management of 8 patients with FG. Treatment of FG and all accompanied diseases was in all cases successful. Treatment costs of this kind of patients were approximately 20 times higher than treatment of patients with other urologic diseases.

Retrocaval ureter with ureteral carcinoma.

The authors report a rare congenital anomaly, retrocaval ureter (RCU) with carcinoma. The patient had recurrent pyelonephritis, hematuria and renal colic. Urography shows no function on right side. Abdominal ultrasound revealed marked right hydronephrosis. Antegrade ureterography through nephrostomy revealed a RCU. Helical C.T. confirmed the RCU and also revealed a defect in contrast medium in the upper ureter. We performed percutaneus antegrade nephro-ureteroscopy and found carcinoma of the retrocaval ureter. This may be the first case of tumor in the RCU. We did not find any other in the literature. (Fig. 3, Ref. 14.).