title: Outpatient therapy of intra-abdominal abscesses following early discharge from the hospital.
abstract: Although percutaneous aspiration and drainage of abdominal abscesses will frequently avert an open surgical procedure, patients remain hospitalized during drainage. The authors treated 9 patients for abscesses using percutaneous drainage catheters and sent them home with the catheter in place. All had an uneventful recovery. An average of $12,050 was saved in each case. The authors suggest that outpatient drainage of abdominal abscesses is significantly less expensive than inpatient treatment, yet does not jeopardize patient care.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000038:Abscess / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged