Early Diagnosis and Antibiotic Treatment Combined with Multicomponent Hemodynamic Support for Addressing a Severe Case of Lemierre’s Syndrome

Abstract

A 20-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit for septic shock due to Lemierre’s syndrome. It is a rare syndrome that manifests as an upper respiratory infection, although systemic involvement, severe coagulopathy, and multi-organ failure can dangerously complicate the clinical picture. In this syndrome, sepsis-related neuroendocrine dysregulation and microcirculation impairment can have a rapid deleterious progression. Consequently, proper diagnosis, early source control, and appropriate antibiotics administration are mandatory to improve the prognosis. The intensive treatment is aimed at limiting organ damage through hemodynamic optimization. Remarkably, in septic shock due to Lemierre’s syndrome, hemodynamic optimization can be achieved through the synergic effect of norepinephrine, argipressin, and hydrocortisone.

Keywords

• Lemierre’s syndrome
• necrobacillosis
• post-anginal septicemia
• septic shock
• norepinephrine
• argipressin