A five-year review of necrotising fasciitis in a tertiary referral unit.

INTRODUCTION: Necrotising fasciitis is a life-threatening illness that is often difficult to diagnose. Immediate debridement and intravenous antibiotic therapy are required to limit the spread of infection. This five-year audit aimed to review the number and outcomes of all cases of necrotising fasciitis admitted to a tertiary referral unit and to assess the validity of the Laboratory Risk Indicator for Necrotising Fasciitis (LRINEC) scoring system.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patient notes over the five-year period from October 2006 to October 2011 was undertaken. The LRINEC score was calculated for each patient to evaluate its usefulness.

RESULTS: Overall, 15 patients were diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis. Three patients died. The median age of patients was 51.0 years (range: 34-76 years). There were no obvious predisposing factors in 8 cases but patients had a median of 2.0 co-morbidities. The most common infective agent, present in five patients, was Group A Streptococcus. Other monomicrobial agents included Group G Streptococcus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Polymicrobial infections were less common than mono-microbial infections and two patients had a polymicrobial infection including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Although the LRINEC scoring system identified 12 of the 15 patients as having a high or intermediate likelihood of necrotising fasciitis, 3 were classified as low likelihood.

CONCLUSIONS: This limited case series strongly suggests that the LRINEC system is too insensitive for diagnosis.