Necrotizing Fasciitis
Necrotizing fasciitis is a rapidly spreading soft-tissue infection that can be life-threatening.
When to get help quickly: This is an emergency. Anyone with rapidly worsening skin infection, severe pain, fever, confusion, blisters, or black or grey skin changes should go to the hospital urgently.
Common symptoms
Symptoms can start with severe pain, swelling, redness, and fever, often around a wound or skin injury. The pain may feel much worse than the skin looks at first.
When imaging helps
Imaging helps show how far the infection has spread under the skin and whether there is gas, fluid, or tissue destruction, but doctors should not wait for imaging if the clinical suspicion is high.
What radiology does
CT, MRI, or ultrasound may show gas, fluid, fascial thickening, and spread of infection, but treatment should not be delayed when suspicion is high.
What usually happens next
This is a medical and surgical emergency requiring urgent antibiotics, surgery, and intensive supportive care.
Seen this on your report?
Your doctor or the radiologist who wrote it can tell you what it means for you.