Postoperative pseudomembranous colitis associated with ampicillin therapy.

A case of pseudomembranous colitis in a 66-year-old subject is presented. The disease appeared on the fourth postoperative day following prostatectomy. On the first postoperative day ampicillin was administered intramuscularly (4 g/day). On the seventh postoperative day, toxic megacolon complicated the disease and a diverting ileostomy with decompression colostomies was performed. The patient died two days later due to severe respiratory failure following extensive bronchopulmonary infection.