Barium Enema Septicemia

Abstract
A patient with acute leukemia and depressed bone marrow following chemotherapy developed aClostridium perfringenssepticemia immediately following a barium enema examination. Autopsy showed ulcerated colonic mucosa with phagocytized bacteria within the colonic wall. There was no leukemic involvement of the colon nor was there any intestinal perforation. Comparison of the antemortem and postmortem bacteriological findings as well as the temporal relationship leads us to incriminate the barium enema as the prime causative factor in this patient's fatal septicemia.

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