Necrotizing myonecrosis and polymicrobial sepsis. The role of adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen.

A 19-year-old man, who was involved in a motorcycle accident, sustained a combined bony and vascular injury to his right lower extremity that required emergency surgery. Postoperatively, the patient developed a life-threatening, necrotizing, soft-tissue infection and sepsis. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy was used with surgery and antibiotics to control this rapidly progressive infection and to limit the extent of debridement needed. It was found to reverse the patient's deteriorating status and to halt the progression of the necrotizing infection. The scientific evidence for the use of hyperbaric oxygen in such cases is discussed.