GANGRENE DIAGNOSIS |
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A diagnosis of gangrene will be based on
a combination of the patient history, a physical examination, and
the results of blood and other laboratory tests. A physician will
look for a history of recent trauma, surgery, cancer, or chronic
disease. Blood tests will be used to determine whether infection is
present and determine the extent to which an infection has spread.
A sample of drainage from a wound, or obtained through surgical
exploration, may be cultured with oxygen (aerobic) and without
oxygen (anaerobic) to identify the microorganism causing the
infection and to aid in determining which antibiotic will be most
effective. The sample obtained from a person with gangrene will
contain few, if any, white blood cells and, when stained (with Gram
stain) and examined under the microscope, will show the presence of
purple (Gram positive), rod-shaped bacteria.
X ray studies and more sophisticated imaging techniques, such as
computed tomography scans (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
may be helpful in making a diagnosis since gas accumulation and
muscle death (myonecrosis) may be visible. These techniques,
however, are not sufficient alone to provide an accurate diagnosis
of gangrene.
Precise diagnosis of gas gangrene often requires surgical
exploration of the wound. During such a procedure, the exposed
muscle may appear pale, beefy-red, or in the most advanced stages,
black. If infected, the muscle will fail to contract with
stimulation, and the cut surface will not bleed. |
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| GANGRENE RELATED ITEMS |
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