Abstract
There are three types of liver abscesses or cysts that may necessitate surgical intervention: pyogenic, amoebic, and echinococcal cysts. This chapter reviews the epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of these diseases. Pyogenic abscesses are bacterial in origin and are caused by either direct extension into the liver from the abdominal cavity, via the bile ducts, via the portal vein, hematogenously via the hepatic artery, or direct trauma. In the early twentieth century, appendicitis was the most frequent cause of hepatic abscess (D’Angleica et al., Sabiston textbook of surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; p. 1463–523, 2008). However, with the advent of antibiotics, biliary disease, whether benign or malignant, became the most common source of pyogenic abscesses. A case review by Huang et al. spanning 42 years at a single institution identified biliary malignancy to be the most common cause in the latter period of the study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
D’Angleica M, Fong Y. The Liver. In: Townsend CM, Beauchamp RD, editors. Sabiston textbook of surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. p. 1463–523.
Huang C, Pitt HA, Lipsett PA, et al. Pyogenic hepatic abscess: changing trends over 42 years. Ann Surg. 1996;223:600–9.
Meddings L, Myers RP, Hubbard J, et al. A population-based study of pyogenic liver abscesses in the United States: incidence, mortality, and temporal trends. Am J Gastroenterol. 2010;105:117–24.
Kaplan GG, Gregson DB, Laupland KB. Population-based study of the epidemiology of and risk factors for pyogenic liver abscess. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2004;2:1032–8.
Rahimian J, Wilson T, Oram V, Holzman RS. Pyogenic liver abscess: recent trends in etiology and mortality. Clin Infect Dis. 2004;39:1654–9.
Strong RW. Pyogenic liver abscess. In: Blumgart LH, editor. Surgery of the liver, biliary tract, and pancreas. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. p. 927–34.
Mezhir JJ, Fong Y, Jacks LM, et al. Current management of pyogenic liver abscess: surgery is now second-line treatment. J Am Coll Surg. 2010;210:975–83.
Giorgio A, Stefano G, DiSarno A, et al. Percutaneous needle aspiration of multiple pyogenic abscesses of the liver: 13-year single-center experience. Am J Roentgenol. 2006;187:1585–90.
Ch Yu S, Hg Lo R, Kan PS, et al. Pyogenic liver abscess: treatment with needle aspiration. Clin Radiol. 1997;52:912–6.
Rajak CL, Gupta S, Jain S, et al. Percutaneous treatment of liver abscesses: needle aspiration versus catheter drainage. Am J Roentgenol. 1998;170:1035–9.
Zerem E, Hadzic A. Sonographically guided percutaneous catheter drainage versus needle aspiration in the management of pyogenic liver abscess. Am J Roentgenol. 2007;189:138–42.
Liu CH, Gervais DA, Hahn PF, et al. Percutaneous hepatic abscess drainage: do multiple abscesses or multiloculated abscesses preclude drainage or affect outcome? J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2009;20:1059–65.
Tan Y, Chung AY, Chow PK, et al. An appraisal of surgical and percutaneous drainage for pyogenic liver abscesses larger than 5 cm. Ann Surg. 2005;241:485–90.
Hope WW, Vrochides DV, Newcomb WL, et al. Optimal treatment of hepatic abscess. Am Surg. 2008;74:178–82.
Strong RW, Fawcett J, Lynch SV, Wall DR. Hepatectomy for pyogenic liver abscess. HPB. 2003;5:86–90.
Congly SE, Aziz AA, Meddings L, et al. Amoebic liver abscess in USA: a populations-based study of incidence, temporal trends and mortality. Liver Int. 2011;31:1191–8.
Hughes MA, Petri WA. Amebic liver abscess. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2000;14:565–82.
Lodhi S, Sarwari AR, Muzammil M, et al. Features distinguishing amoebic from pyogenic liver abscess: a review of 577 adult cases. Trop Med Int Health. 2004;9:718–23.
Chavez-Tapia NC, Hernandez-Calleros J, Tellez-Avila FL, et al. Image-guided percutaneous procedure plus metronidazole vs. metronidazole alone for uncomplicated amoebic liver abscess. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009;1:CD004886.
Concheda M, Antonelli A, Caddori A, et al. A retrospective analysis of human cystic echinococcosis in Sardinia, an endemic mediterranean region, from 2001 to 2005. Parasitol Int. 2010;59:454–9.
Gonlugur U, Ozcelik S, Gonlugur TE, et al. The retrospective annual surgical incidence of cystic echinococcosis in Sivas. Turkey Zoonoses Public Health. 2009;56:209–14.
Moro P, Schantz PM. Echinococcosis: a review. Int J Infect Dis. 2009;13:125–33.
McManus DP, Zhang W, Li J, et al. Echinococcosis. Lancet. 2003;362:1295–304.
Foster EN, Hertz G. Echinococcus of the liver treated with laparoscopic hepatectomy. Permanente J. 2010;14:45–6.
Smego RA, Bhatti S, Khaliq A, et al. Percutaneous aspiration-injection-reaspiration drainage plus albendazole or mebendazole for hepatic cystic echinococcosis: a meta-analysis. Clin Infect Dis. 2003;37:1073–83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chan, E., Jordano, L., Mesleh, M. (2017). Liver Abscesses. In: Moore, L., Todd, S. (eds) Common Problems in Acute Care Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42792-8_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42792-8_25
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42790-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42792-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)