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Vernon J. Henderson, MD
Atlanta, Ga

Arch Surg. 1998;133:819.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Callahan and colleagues describe a group of 30 patients seen during 5 years at San Francisco General Hospital with NSTI from illicit drug injections. This small, but remarkable, subgroup of 3560 patients with cutaneous abscesses from illicit drug injection experienced a 20% mortality. The authors, having sought clinical clues to differentiate patients with NSTI from those with simple cutaneous abscesses, concluded that a high index of suspicion and an inquisitive operative approach were necessary to avoid missing these serious infections.

A similar group of patients with NSTI from illicit drug injection was previously reported by the University of California, Davis–East Bay surgical group. High mortality (27%) and lack of specific clinical findings to differentiate serious infections from simple cutaneous abscesses were also noted by this group. Accordingly, a protocol was instituted that initiated early aggressive surgical debridement and early reoperation to arrest infection for all patients . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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