Sonographic Features of Cellulitis and Failure of Therapy

Skin and soft tissue infections represent a tremendous burden to the health care community with over 11.6 million ambulatory patients presenting annually in 2003 and 14.2 million in 2005. A Cochrane review of cellulitis found that there is limited data to support any specific antibiotic or even a specific length of antibiotic therapy, and that outpatient therapy for cellulitis is increasing. Soft tissue ultrasound has been shown to have utility in differentiating cellulitis from abscess but its role in patients with cellulitis is not well developed. Although speculative, the investigators hypothesize that sonographic features of cellulitis are associated with clinical improvement and successful therapy following antibiotics for patients with cellulitis.