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.