Two Cases of Rectal Cancer with Fouriner's Gangrene

Abstract

Fouriner's gangrene is rapidly progressive necrotizing fasciitis in the scrotal, perianal, and perineal regions. Without early and appropriate treatments, the patient's general condition can take downhill course. We have treated two cases of Fouriner's gangrene caused by rectal cancer. We used antibiotics and performed drainage and debridement in both cases. However, we were not able to control local infection, so we emergently performed colostomy, followed by low anterior resection of the rectum after his infection was well controlled.

Urological diseases, anal fistula, and perianal abscess are thought to be main causes of this disease. It is rather rare that rectal cancer causes this disease, where the time until intervention of treatment might determine the prognosis. We can find only 29 cases of rectal cancer with Fournier's gangrene in the Japanese literature from 2000 to 2022. We report our two cases with a review of the literature.