A demographic, clinical and imaging description of patients with liver abscess at a referral hospital in Colombia

Abstract

Introduction: liver abscess (LA) is a local infectious process which may have a bacterial or amoebic etiology. Its incidence has been rising, causing an impact on healthcare systems. An estimate of its current status in Colombia is needed. The proposed objective is to describe the demographic, clinical and imaging characteristics of patients with LA at a referral hospital in Colombia.

Method: a descriptive, retrospective observational study of patients with LA seen between January 2012 and October 2022. The data were presented using relative and absolute frequency measures and measures of central tendency. The information was obtained from electronic medical records, and the statistical analysis was done using Stata 17.

Results: a total of 154 patients were included, with an average age of 57.5 years, 65.5 % of whom were male. Altogether, 43.5 % had comorbidities, 5.8 % had a history of immunosuppression, and 6.4 % had prior corticoid use. The most common symptom was abdominal pain, with 87.1 % of cases. A total of 62.3 % had abnormal laboratory results (elevated liver enzymes, leukocytosis or neutrophilia). The most frequent location on imaging was the right lobe, with a single image found in 70.1 % of the cases. The microbiological profile was mostly negative (86.3 %), with Gram negative germs and E. coli found in 4.5%, respectively. Most abscesses were drained (59.7 %), with an average hospital stay of 12.9 days and a mortality of 1.9 %.

Conclusions: our results are similar to what the literature describes about liver abscesses. More studies are needed to describe the clinical and financial impact on the healthcare system.