Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Liver abscess

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Specialty
  
gastroenterology

ICD-9-CM
  
572.0

MedlinePlus
  
000261

ICD-10
  
K75.0

DiseasesDB
  
22094

eMedicine
  
med/1316

Liver abscess

A liver abscess is a pus-filled mass inside the liver. Common causes are abdominal infections such as appendicitis or diverticulitis due to haematogenous spread through the portal vein.

Contents

Types

There are three major forms of liver abscess, classified by cause:

  • Pyogenic liver abscess, which is most often polymicrobial, accounts for 80% of hepatic abscess cases in the United States.
  • Amoebic liver abscess due to Entamoeba histolytica accounts for 10% of cases.
  • Fungal abscess, most often due to Candida species, accounts for less than 10% of cases.

    • Causes

    Major bacterial causes of liver abscess include the following:

  • Streptococcus species (including Enterococcus)
  • Escherichia species
  • Staphylococcus species
  • Klebsiella species (Higher rates in the Far East)
  • Anaerobes (including Bacteroides species)
  • Pseudomonas species
  • Proteus species

    • However, as noted above, many cases are polymicrobial.

    References

    Liver abscess Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA