Emergency casebook
Non-traumatic clostridium infection: report of an unusual case with rapid progression and a paucity of clinical signs in a patient with type 1 diabetes ‣
The number of cases of non-traumatic, spontaneous clostridial gas gangrene is increasing and is an area of major concern for physician awareness. The disease is associated with a high mortality rate, and survival is directly related to rapid diagnosis and prompt institution of appropriate antibiotic therapy, surgical debridement and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The dilemma is that early diagnosis cannot be firmly made on clinical findings alone, as these may not appear until very late, as in our case, jeopardising the chances of patient’s survival. Mortality rate increases substantially in the absence of surgical treatment. Therefore, it could be suggested here that early surgical evaluation is needed, which could help in timely diagnosis, in patients with pain out of proportion to clinical findings, especially when no other plausible cause could be found.
A rare complication of chlorine gas inhalation: pneumomediastinum ‣
Chlorine gas is a pulmonary irritant causing acute damage in whole respiratory tract. A 26-year-old female patient presented to emergency department with dyspnea after inhalation of gas produced by the mixture …
