Download PDF
J Pediatr Infect Dis 2017; 12(01): 040-047
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1600114
Review Article
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Liver Abscess in Children

Karen Milford
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
,
Luvo Gaxa
2   Department of Pediatric Radiology, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
,
Sharon Cox
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
,
David Tasker
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
,
Ebrahim Banderker
2   Department of Pediatric Radiology, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

01 November 2016

07 November 2017

Publication Date:
21 March 2017 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Liver abscess is a global disease, although it occurs more commonly in areas with poor socioeconomic circumstances. The majority of liver abscesses are pyogenic in nature, but amebiasis is a common cause in areas where the parasite is endemic and sanitation is underdeveloped. This article reviews pyogenic and amebic liver abscesses with special focus on the role of imaging in both diagnosis and management. The epidemiology, pathology, and clinical presentation are also discussed.

Keywords

liver - abscess - pyogenic - amebic
 

  • References

  • 1 Blessmann J, Van Linh P, Nu PAT , et al. Epidemiology of amebiasis in a region of high incidence of amebic liver abscess in central Vietnam. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2002; 66 (5) 578-583
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Moore S, Millar AJW, Cywes S. Liver abscess in childhood. A 13-year review. Pediatr Surg Int 1988; 3: 27-32
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Stanley Jr SL. Amoebiasis. Lancet 2003; 361 (9362): 1025-1034
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Bari S, Sheikh KA, Malik AA, Wani RA, Naqash SH. Percutaneous aspiration versus open drainage of liver abscess in children. Pediatr Surg Int 2007; 23 (1) 69-74
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Hendricks MK, Moore SW, Millar AJ. Epidemiological aspects of liver abscesses in children in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. J Trop Pediatr 1997; 43 (2) 103-105
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Hsu Y-L, Lin H-C, Yen T-Y, Hsieh T-H, Wei H-M, Hwang K-P. Pyogenic liver abscess among children in a medical center in Central Taiwan. J Microbiol Immunol Infect 2015; 48 (3) 302-305
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Lübbert C, Wiegand J, Karlas T. Therapy of liver abscesses. Viszeralmedizin 2014; 30 (5) 334-341
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Ferreira MA, Pereira FE, Musso C, Dettogni RV. Pyogenic liver abscess in children: some observations in the Espírito Santo State, Brazil. Arq Gastroenterol 1997; 34 (1) 49-54
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Kumar A, Srinivasan S, Sharma AK. Pyogenic liver abscess in children--South Indian experiences. J Pediatr Surg 1998; 33 (3) 417-421
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Pineiro-Carrero VM, Andres JM. Morbidity and mortality in children with pyogenic liver abscess. Am J Dis Child 1989; 143 (12) 1424-1427
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Salahi R, Dehghani SM, Salahi H, Bahador A, Abbasy HR, Salahi F. Liver abscess in children: a 10-year single centre experience. Saudi J Gastroenterol 2011; 17 (3) 199-202
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Porras-Ramírez G, Hernández-Herrera MH, Porras-Hernández JD. Amebic hepatic abscess in children. J Pediatr Surg 1995; 30 (5) 662-664
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Bruckner DA. Amebiasis. Clin Microbiol Rev 1992; 5 (4) 356-369
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Petri Jr WA. Pathogenesis of amebiasis. Curr Opin Microbiol 2002; 5: 443-447
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Srivastava A, Yachha SK, Arora V, Poddar U, Lal R, Baijal SS. Identification of high-risk group and therapeutic options in children with liver abscess. Eur J Pediatr 2012; 171 (1) 33-41
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Amebiasis. DPDx - Laboratory Identification of Parasitic Diseases of Public Health Concern. 2013 Available at http://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/amebiasis/ . Accessed September 10, 2016
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Mishra K, Basu S, Roychoudhury S, Kumar P. Liver abscess in children: an overview. World J Pediatr 2010; 6 (3) 210-216
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 18 Nakada-Tsukui K, Nozaki T. Immune response of amebiasis and immune evasion by Entamoeba histolytica. Front Immunol 2016; 7: 175
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Goswami A, Dadhich S, Bhargava N. Colonic involvement in amebic liver abscess: does site matter?. Ann Gastroenterol 2014; 27 (2) 156-161
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 20 Angel C, Chand N, Sankar A, Rowen J, Murillo C. Gastric wall erosion by an amebic liver abscess in a 3-year-old girl. Pediatr Surg Int 2000; 16 (5-6): 429-430
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 21 Baijal SS, Agarwal DK, Roy S, Choudhuri G. Complex ruptured amebic liver abscesses: the role of percutaneous catheter drainage. Eur J Radiol 1995; 20 (1) 65-67
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Moazam F, Nazir Z. Amebic liver abscess: spare the knife but save the child. J Pediatr Surg 1998; 33 (1) 119-122
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 23 Short M, Desai AP. Laparoscopy and transdiaphragmatic thoracoscopy in management of ruptured amebic liver abscess. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A 2008; 18 (3) 473-476
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 24 Cama JK, Millar J, Maoate K, Beasley S. The peculiar appearance of a developing pyogenic liver abscess on MRI. J Pediatr Surg Case Rep 2013; 1 (9) 293-294
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 25 Merten DF, Kirks DR. Amebic liver abscess in children: the role of diagnostic imaging. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1984; 143 (6) 1325-1329
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 26 Sharma MP, Kumar A. Liver abscess in children. Indian J Pediatr 2006; 73 (9) 813-817
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 27 Lin ACM, Yeh DY, Hsu YH , et al. Diagnosis of pyogenic liver abscess by abdominal ultrasonography in the emergency department. Emerg Med J 2009; 26 (4) 273-275
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 28 Mortelé KJ, Segatto E, Ros PR. The infected liver: radiologic-pathologic correlation. Radiographics 2004; 24 (4) 937-955
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 29 Petri WA, Singh U. Diagnosis and management of amebiasis. Clin Infect Dis 1990; 29: 1117-1125
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 30 Oleszczuk-Raszke K, Cremin BJ, Fisher RM, Moore SW, Millar AJ. Ultrasonic features of pyogenic and amoebic hepatic abscesses. Pediatr Radiol 1989; 19 (4) 230-233
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 31 Halvorsen RA, Korobkin M, Foster WL, Silverman PM, Thompson WM. The variable CT appearance of hepatic abscesses. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1984; 142 (5) 941-946
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 32 Moore SW, Lakhoo K, Millar AJCS, Cywes S. Left-sided liver abscess in childhood. S Afr J Surg 1994; 32 (4) 145-148
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 33 Hanna RM, Dahniya MH, Badr SS, El-Betagy A. Percutaneous catheter drainage in drug-resistant amoebic liver abscess. Trop Med Int Health 2000; 5 (8) 578-581
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 34 Pawar SV, Zanwar VG, Gambhire PA , et al. Unusual complication of amebic liver abscess: hepatogastric fistula. World J Gastrointest Endosc 2015; 7 (9) 916-919
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 35 Eastiak MF, Saifullah M, Islam MS , et al. Pigtail catheter in the management of liver abscess. Mymensingh Med J 2015; 24 (4) 770-775
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 36 Koizumi K, Masuda S, Uojima H , et al. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage of an amoebic liver abscess extending into the hepatic subcapsular space. Clin J Gastroenterol 2015; 8 (4) 232-235
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 37 Tan L, Zhou HJ, Hartman M, Ganpathi IS, Madhavan K, Chang S. Laparoscopic drainage of cryptogenic liver abscess. Surg Endosc 2013; 27 (9) 3308-3314
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 38 Tu J-F, Huang X-F, Hu R-Y, You H-Y, Zheng X-F, Jiang F-Z. Comparison of laparoscopic and open surgery for pyogenic liver abscess with biliary pathology. World J Gastroenterol 2011; 17 (38) 4339-4343
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar