Mufassar Nishat, Ansar Latif, Namra Chaudhry, Anila Ansar, Zafar Ali Choudry, Muhammad Qasim Butt, Faisal Shabbir.
Management of Carbuncle; Prognosis of Surgical Treatment.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(2):637-9.

Aim To study the presentation and prognosis of the patients with carbuncles presenting in surgical department of Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching hospital, Sialkot. Study Design: Prospective study. Place & duration of study: Department of General Surgery, Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot from June 2016 to February 2018. Methods: All patients serially presented in the surgery Department of Allama Iqbal Memorial hospital with Carbuncle of any size and presenting symptoms & Male and female patients of all age groups were included. The patients were classed in two groups: Group I-Big Carbuncles size measuring >5cm in one direction and Group II- Small Carbuncles size less than 5 cm. Patients were admitted and managed according to nature and indications for surgical intervention. Secondary intention of healing was the approach in all cases while some patients required partial thickness skin grafting. Minimum of three months of follow up was must for inclusion in the study. Results: We had 183 patients, having age 14-67 years, with mean age of 39+8 years, out of which 44 patients were males and 139 were females and Male to female ratio was 1:3.15, Duration of lesions at presentation was 3- 45 days with average of 9+12 days,156 patients were diabetics and 9 patients had immunosuppressive therapy, 29 were underweight, 71 were obese, 13 were smokers and 13 had poor hygiene with skin diseases. In Group-I patients having Big Carbuncles, Fever was in 74(100%) patients, Pain was also in 74(100%), Swelling was in 65(87.83%) and Pus Discharge was in (56.75%). In Group-II patients with Small Carbuncles, Fever was in 75(68.80%), Pain was in 92(84.40%), Swelling was in 101(92.66%) and Pus Discharge was in 21(19.26%). Conclusion: Though the treatment of carbuncles is generally have good prognosis if treatment is sought in time but big carbuncles may follow a chronic course.

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