Liver abscesses in the Western pediatric population

Background and study aims: Liver abscesses are rare in the Western pediatric population and data on predisposing factors and etiology are scarce. We aimed to describe predisposing factors, microbiological characteristics, and treatment.Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of children admitted to two tertiary care hospitals in Belgium from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2019. We analyzed clinical features, predisposing factors, imaging characteristics, microbiological data, treatment, and outcome in children with a liver abscess and compared these data with the literature.Results: We collected 24 cases with a male to female ratio of 1.4 and a median age of 3.2 years at time of diagnosis. Survival was 95.8%. Invasive culture specimens were obtained in 83.3% and showed growth of bacteria in 55%. Parenteral antibiotics were administered before invasive culture sampling in 80%. Liver abscesses were cryptogenic in four (16.7%) patients. Hepatobiliary disease was the most prevalent predisposing factor (n = 6; 25%), followed by recent antineoplastic therapy for malignancies (n = 5; 20.8%), intra-abdominal surgical pathology (n = 4; 16.7%) and umbilical venous catheters (n = 2; 8.3%). In two patients there was a parasitic origin (n = 2; 8.3%) and in one it was caused by Bartonellosis. There was no diagnosis of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in our cohort.Conclusions: Pediatric liver abscesses have a favorable outcome in the developed world. Whenever feasible, invasive abscess culture specimens should be obtained. In patients presenting with a cryptogenic liver abscess or atypical disease course, immunological workup should be ensured. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2022, 85, 439-445).