A clinical study on liver abscess over a recent 10-year period / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The mortality of liver abscess has remained relatively constant during this century despite earlier diagnosis, treatment of underlying causes and more aggressive antibiotics therapy. The aims of this study were to evaluate the risk factors that associated with mortality of liver abscess. METHODS: This study was carried out retrospectively including 70 patients with liver abscess from January 1992 to August 2001. The clinical features, laboratory, imaging, and microbiologic findings, management strategy, and final outcome were studied, and prognostic factors were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 37 males and 33 females whose ages ranged from 17 to 89 years. The mean age of the patients was 57 years, and the male to female ratio was 1.11. In the major part of patients, the abscess was located in the right lobe (61.4%) and single in number (78.5%). Upper abdominal pain, fever and chills were the most common symptoms, and right upper abdominal tenderness was the most common physical findings. Twenty-six percent of patients were diabetic and 40%, 10% had biliary tract disease, malignancy on presentation, respectively. A hypoalbuminemia (patients. The most common organism of the pyogenic abscess was K. pneumoniae (36.8%). All patients were received broad spectrum antibiotics. Percutaneous needle aspiration was performed in 21 patients and percutaneous catheter drainage was employed in 40 patients. Four patients had surgical drainage. Nine of these 70 patients died, five of those nine were accompanied with malignancy. The overall mortality rate of liver abscess was 12.8%.

CONCLUSION:

Our study suggests that the factors influencing mortality in the liver abscess were hypoalbuminemia and underlying malignancy.