Enterocolitis caused by methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) after bilateral neck dissection

Abstract

The number of patients with postoperative enterocolitis caused by MRSA has been rapidly increasing since the use of antibiotic prophylaxis consisting of extended-spectrum cephems. We encountered a case of postoperative enterocolitis due to MRSA. The patient was an 26-year-old female who had bilateral cervical lymph node metastasis of tongue cancer; the enterocolitis appearred after we performed bilateral neck dissection. We used prophylactic antibiotics (FMOX) following the operation to prevent infection. Abdominal pain, high fever, and white watery diarrhea appeared seven days after the operation. MRSA was detected in her feces. Toxic shock syndrome toxin I (TSST-I) was induced by this MRSA. The patient was treated with oral vancomycin (2 g/day), to which this MRSA showed sensitivity. The patient showed improvement in her symptoms, serum CRP level, and, leucocytosis after 12 days.