Spontaneous gas gangrene of the lower limb in a patient with rectal cancer: A fatal diagnostic pitfall

Mohamed Farès Mahjoubi; Bochra Rezgui; Aymen Mabrouk; Nada Essid; Laila Jedidi; Mounir Ben Moussa

doi:10.1002/ccr3.6311

Spontaneous gas gangrene of the lower limb in a patient with rectal cancer: A fatal diagnostic pitfall

Clin Case Rep. 2022 Sep 14;10(9):e6311. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.6311. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

Mohamed Farès Mahjoubi^{1

2}, Bochra Rezgui^{1

2}, Aymen Mabrouk^{1

2}, Nada Essid^{1

2}, Laila Jedidi^{1

3}, Mounir Ben Moussa^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery A Charles Nicolle Hospital Tunis Tunisia.
² Faculty of Medicine of Tunis University of Tunis El Manar Tunis Tunisia.
³ Faculty of Medicine of Sousse University of Sousse Sousse Tunisia.

Abstract

Spontaneous gas gangrene of lower limb is rare. It may complicate digestive cancer or neutropenia. We report a case of spontaneous gas gangrene of the lower limb complicating a rectal cancer, initially diagnosed as deep vein thrombosis. The diagnostic delay was fatal.

Keywords: delayed diagnosis; gas gangrene; rectal neoplasms.

Publication types

Case Reports