title: Liver abscess in children: a 10-year single centre experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although liver abscess is more prevalent in developing countries than in developed countries, there is scant data about the characteristics of pediatric liver abscess in our region. We aimed to analyze the characteristics of pediatric liver abscess in our region and compare these with those of developed countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical features, laboratory, imaging, microbiologic findings, management strategy, and final outcome were extracted from the patients' records retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 18 cases of liver abscess including 16 pyogenic liver abscess, one amebic liver abscess and one candida liver abscess. Fever and abdominal pain were the most common clinical findings and leukocytosis was the most common laboratory finding. The most predisposing factors of liver abscess were immune deficiency, minor thalassemia. Origin of liver abscess was appendicitis in two patients, the rest were considered as cryptogenic. While one patient was treated with antibiotics alone, five cases were taken for open drainage, and 12 cases were treated with percutaneous aspiration. Percutaneous aspiration failed in two patients who were later taken for open drainage, with an overall mortality rate of 5.5%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall characteristics of liver abscess in children in our society are not so different from developed countries. However, in contradiction to cases reported in developed countries, most cases of liver abscess were seen in healthy patients in our centre. Moreover, liver abscess was reported in our patients at a younger age and was more commonly seen in male children. Mortality rate was similar to that of developed countries.
authors.affiliation: Trauma Research Center, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Roohollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salahi
authors.forename: Seyed M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dehghani
authors.forename: Heshmatollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salahi
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahador
authors.forename: Hamid R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Abbasy
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Salahi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D007964:Leukocytosis; D008100:Liver Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D046290:Liver Abscess, Pyogenic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male