Center-based First-line Therapy Is a Significant Predictor for Mortality of Fournier Gangrene

Abstract

Introduction: Fournier gangrene is a life-threatening urological disease that requires rapid surgical intervention. Despite major improvements in medical therapy, the mortality of Fournier gangrene has not changed during the past 25 years. To potentially improve the outcome, we analyzed different medical processes for overall mortality in the treatment of Fournier gangrene. Methods: We performed a retrospective single-center study of 21 patients with Fournier gangrene. Patients were grouped according to initial symptoms, first medical advice, blood tests, medical history, and further clinical processes and compared using a t test, χ2 test, or Fisher exact test. A t test for heterogeneous variances was used if a Levene test showed significantly different variances, otherwise a t test for homogeneous variances was used. The log-rank test was applied for survival analysis. Logistic regression was applied to identify potential clinical predictors for mortality. Follow-up was performed until 130 days after the first surgical intervention. Results: There were no significant differences in the mortality rate of patients depending on the day and time of presentation in the hospital. Of the patients first consulting a urologist (either outpatient or hospital), no patient died within the first 120 days. By contrast, approximately 70% of patients who were transferred by a hospital without urologic specialization or a nonurologic outpatient clinic (P = .008) died within the first 130 days after surgery. Multivariate survival analysis showed that the type of first doctor's advice could serve as a significant factor in determining patients' mortality (P = .031), which also correlated with a significantly shorter duration of the first surgical procedure (110 vs 54 minutes, P = .019). Conclusion: Despite the small cohort, we were able to show a significant correlation between the initial doctor's advice, either by a urologist or nonurologist, and the patient's mortality. Considering the life-threatening potential of Fournier gangrene, professionals should develop strategies to educate nonurologists and raise awareness about this disease and its clinical presentation to optimize rapid intervention and reduce mortality.