ABSTRACT

A 65-years old patient with a 15-year history of diabetes mellitus (DM) presented to our emergency department with complaints of pain and swelling in his left leg, which had begun two days prior. Homan’s test was positive. Lower extremity venous doppler examination was normal. Sedimentation rate was 75 mm/hour, CRP was 124 mg/L, creatine kinase was 1.27 mg/dL in laboratory examination. Magnetic resonance imaging showed that the muscle of posterior compartment was swollen and iso-dense in T1 images, hyper-dense in T2 images. Pain and distention increased on the third day. The patient was operated upon immediately because of myonecrosis causing compartment syndrome. The patient complaints were relieved dramatically in the postoperative period. One week after the operation, the patient was encouraged to ambulate with partial weight-bearing. Physical examination after one month showed decreased distention in the posterior compartment and inability to dorsiflex the foot.

Keywords: Diabetic myonecrosis, fasciotomy