Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Volume 2014, Article ID 282141, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/282141
Complication of Invasive Molar Pregnancy with Clostridium perfringens Sepsis
1Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA
2Department of Radiology, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC 20060, USA
3Department of Pathology, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC 20060, USA
Received 3 December 2013; Accepted 8 January 2014; Published 13 February 2014
Academic Editors: M. K. Hoffman and M. A. Osmanagaoglu
Copyright © 2014 Sanmeet Singh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Clostridium perfringens (CP) is an anaerobic, Gram-positive bacillus associated with malignant diseases and near-term pregnancies. The necrotic tissue that results from these disease processes fuels the proliferation of CP, leading to gas gangrene and subsequently sepsis. Herein, we report a case of a 41-year-old female patient with a history of invasive molar pregnancy that was further complicated with a CP infection. Although past research has shown a link between Clostridium infection and choriocarcinoma (Chern-Horng and Hsieh, 1999), no previous cases of CP infection have been associated with invasive molar pregnancy. We also report complete resolution of the CP sepsis and its associated symptoms following the hysterectomy.