Cryosurgical drainage of hepatic abscess

ABSTRACT

Thirteen cases of hepatic abscess were diagnosed by CT examination. In 5 of them, CT-guided percutaneous catheter drainage failed to cure the condition-because of failure to drain a multilocular abscess in two cases, inability to drain thick pus in two cases and recurrence of the abscess in the fifth. All the 13 patients were operatively treated using the cryocone. There was no mortality among these patients. Two patients developed septicaemia which was successfully treated, white another two patients developed wound infection. No cases of subphrenic or subhepatic abscess or empyema were recorded. Follow-up for 3 months after surgery showed no evidence of abscess recurrence. The procedure is simple and requires no special skills and as it has proved to be very effective and relatively safe, we recommend its use for the treatment of hepatic abscess, if percutaneous drainage fails or if facilities or experience for percutaneous drainage are lacking. However, we advise management of more cases for proper evaluation of the procedure