Hepatic hematoma after blunt trauma--a case of nonoperative management to prevent liver abscess formation.

In an eighteen-year-old boy with a high fever, an intra-hepatic infectious hematoma following blunt hepatic trauma was treated twice with intrahepatic arterial injection chemotherapy in an attempt to prevent conversion of the hematoma to an abscess. A decrease in body temperature occurred after the arterial injections, and the hematoma was gradually diminished in size. In selected patients with blunt hepatic trauma, intrahepatic arterial injection chemotherapy seems to be an effective treatment for prevention of liver abscess formation.