Necrotizing fasciitis: clinical presentation, microbiology, and determinants of mortality.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a life-threatening soft-tissue infection primarily involving the superficial fascia. The present report describes the clinical presentation and microbiological characteristics of this condition as well as the determinants of mortality associated with this uncommon surgical emergency.

The medical records of eighty-nine consecutive patients who had been admitted to our institution for necrotizing fasciitis from January 1997 to August 2002 were reviewed retrospectively.