Clostridium difficile | The Journal of Critical Care Medicine

Toxic Megacolon – A Three Case Presentation

Irina Magdalena Dumitru¹, Eugen Dumitru², Sorin Rugina^1,3, Liliana Ana Tuta²

1 Discipline of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania
2 Discipline of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania
3 The Academy of Romanian Scientists

DOI: 10.1515/jccm-2017-0008

Introduction: Toxic megacolon is a life-threatening disease and is one of the most serious complications of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), usually needing prompt surgical intervention. Early diagnosis and adequate medical treatment are mandatory.
Cases presentation: In the last two years, three Caucasian female patients have been diagnosed with toxic megacolon and treated in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital, Constanta. All patients had been hospitalized for non-related conditions. The first patient was in chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the second patient had undergone surgery for colon cancer, and the third patient had surgery for disc herniation. In all cases the toxin test (A+B) was positive and ribotype 027 was present. Abdominal CT examination, both native and after intravenous contrast, showed significant colon dilation, with marked thickening of the wall. Resolution of the condition did not occur using the standard treatment of metronidazole and oral vancomycin, therefore the therapy was altered in two cases using intracolonic administration of vancomycin and intravenous tigecycline.
Conclusions: In these three cases of CDI, the risk factors for severe evolution were: concurrent malignancy, renal failure, obesity, and immune deficiencies. Ribotype 027, a marker for a virulent strain of CD, was found in all three cases complicated by toxic megacolon. The intracolonic administration of vancomycin, and intravenous tigecycline was successful when prior standard therapy had failed, and surgery was avoided.

Factors Favouring the Development of Clostridium Difficile Infection in Critically Ill Patients

Bianca-Liana Grigorescu¹, Raluca Ştefania Fodor^1*, Adrian Dan Cioc², Mihaly Veres², Monica Orlandea², Bogdan Lăzescu², Emoke Almasy²

1 University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tîrgu Mureş, 38 Gheorghe Marinescu street Tîrgu Mureş, 540139, Romania
2 County Clinical Emergency Hospital Tîrgu Mureş, Romania, 50 Gheorghe Marinescu street Tîrgu Mureş, 540139, Romania

DOI: 10.1515/jccm-2016-0006

Clostridium difficile, an anaerobic, spore-forming, toxin-forming, gram-positive bacillus present in the bacterial flora of the colon is the principal cause of nosocomial diarrhoea in adults.
Aim: Assessment of favouring factors of Clostridium difficile infections as well as the interactions between them, in critically ill hospitalized patients undergoing complex medical and surgical treatments.
Material and Methods: A retrospective case-control study involving eighty patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the County Clinical Emergency Hospital Tîrgu-Mureş was conducted between January and October 2014. Patients aged eighteen years and over, who had undergone complex medical and surgical treatment, were divided into two subgroups. Group 1 included patients who developed diarrhoea but were not diagnosed as having a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Group 2 included patients who developed diarrhoea due to CDI as indicated by a positive culture and the expression of exotoxin. The assessed parameters were age, length of stay (LOS), antibiotic spectrum, association with proton pump inhibitors (PPI) or H2-receptor antagonists, immunological status, the presence or lack of gastrointestinal tract surgery.
Results: The mean age was 64.6 years with an average LOS of 10 days. Fifty-six percent of patients came to the ICU from internal medicine wards and forty-three percent from surgical wards. 20.5% of them were immunosuppressed. Co-association of ceftriaxone and pantoprazole significantly increased the risk of CDI compared to co-administration of any other antibiotic or pantoprazole (p=0.01). The odds ratio for Pantoprazole together with any antibiotic versus antibiotic therapy alone was significantly higher (p=0.018) with a sevenfold increase in the risk of positive exotoxin increase.
Conclusions: Antibiotic use is associated with “no risk to develop CDI” in the first five days of administration. PPIs associated therapy increased the risk of CDI in first seventy-two hours regardless of the antibiotic type, and contributes to an active expression of CD exotoxin.