Pyogenic liver abscess caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae: analysis of the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 84 patients.
BACKGROUND
The increased incidence of pyogenic liver abscess caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae (K.pneumoniae) was reported in the recent literature. This study was conducted retrospectively to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of these patients.


METHODS
Microbiological and medical databases of a medical center were searched from January 2000 to June 2003. Eighty-four patients with liver abscess caused by K.pneumoniae were analyzed.


RESULTS
In the 84 patients, 52 men and 32 women aged (58.2 +/- 13.3) years on average, 64.4% had concomitant diabetes mellitus and 23.8% had biliary disease. The most common clinical symptoms were fever (98.8%), chills (69.0%) and abdominal pain (58.3%). 85.7% of the 84 patients received catheter drainage for the abscess. The length of hospital stay was (17.4 +/- 8.7) days. The mortality rate was 7.1%. Older age and presence of biliary disease were associated with mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
The low mortality of our patients was probably related to the high proportion of patients who received catheter drainage. Older age and presence of biliary disease were associated with the mortality.
Chan
Khee-siang
KS
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan 710, China.
Yu
Wen-liang
WL
Tsai
Chi-lun
CL
Cheng
Kuo-chen
KC
Hou
Ching-cheng
CC
Lee
Meng-chih
MC
Tan
Che-kim
CK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007710:Klebsiella Infections / Q000150:complications*; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae; D046290:Liver Abscess, Pyogenic / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies