Necrotizing fasciitis caused by the treatment of chronic non-specific back pain

Abstract

Background: Chronic back pain is a multifactorial disease that occurs particularly in adults and has many negative effects on the quality of daily life. Therapeutic strategies are often multimodal and designed for a long-term therapy period. In some cases, one option is joint infiltration or intrathecal injection with local anaesthetics. An adverse effect of this intervention may be necrotic fasciitis, a disease with high mortality and few therapeutic options. Case presentation: This case shows a 53-year-old female patient who developed necrotic fasciitis after infiltrations of the sacroiliac joint and after epidural-sacral and intrathecal injections. Conclusion: Thanks to early and aggressive surgical intervention, antibiotic treatment and hyperbaric oxygenation, she survived this serious complication and was able to return to life.