2010 Volume 30 Issue 3 Pages 473-476
A 67-year-old man complaining of severe diarrhea and abdominal pain was admitted to our hospital. He had a history of undergoing a distal gastrectomy ten years previously. An operation was performed under the diagnosis of large bowel perforation, and a perforation of the sigmoid colon was intraoperatively found. Despite intensive care, he died of sepsis and type A Clostridium perfringens was detected from his blood and the perforated colon. C. perfringens infection accompanied by gastrointestinal perforation is extremely rare. The type A C. perfringens has sometimes caused sitotoxism but its prognosis is usually good. On the other hand, C. perfringens septicemia is fatal and causes severe hemolysis and disseminated intravascular coagulation. C. perfringens infection should be considered in the case of acute abdomen with severe diarrhea for the early initiation of active treatment and for the prevention of C. perfringens-mediated septicemia.
