Necrotizing soft tissue infections remain a challenging clinical problem. Delays in diagnosis, incomplete debridement of necrotic tissues, and the hemodynamic instability and end-organ failure associated with overwhelming sepsis all contribute to significant mortality. Extracorporeal support is a well-established tool to support profound cardiopulmonary failure. To broaden the indications for use, we present two cases of young adults with necrotizing soft tissue infections who sustained sepsis-induced hemodynamic collapse and required extracorporeal support to facilitate adequate tissue debridement as a bridge to recovery.
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