Liver abscesses – from diagnosis to treatment
Dorota Kozielewicz, Katarzyna Sikorska, Piotr Stalke
Abstract
A liver abscess is a limited, often encysted, purulent inflammation with parenchymal necrosis that is a life-threatening complication of bacterial, fungal, protozoal and worm infections. Liver abscesses can be single or multiple; most of them are located in the right liver lobe. The pathogenic factor responsible for the development of abscesses can be identified by collecting the lesion's contents or the cultures of blood, bile, sometimes urine or stool samples. Diagnosis is established by serological, imaging and microscopic tests. The treatment regimen is determined mainly by the etiological factor and the size of the lesion and includes conservative treatment and mainly percutaneous procedures. The article briefly presents the epidemiology, clinical picture and the current approach to the diagnosis and treatment of liver abscesses.