Fournier's gangrene: review of fifteen cases.

Fournier's gangrene is a synergistic necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum and abdominal wall along with the scrotum and penis in men and the vulva in women. The process was believed to be idiopathic in initial descriptions. Fifteen patients were treated for Fournier's gangrene between 1990 and 1995 in the Departments of General Surgery and Urology, School of Medicine, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey. The most common causes were perianal sepsis and urogenital diseases. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were identified most commonly in cultures of necrotic tissue. The mortality rate was 20 per cent despite aggressive surgical debridement and broad-spectrum antibiotics.