Pyogenic liver abscesses in children.

Five children with pyogenic liver abscess were admitted to Institute of Child Health, Kabul during the period 1978 to 1980. All patients were males, and their ages ranged from 4 to 10 years. The clinical picture was characterized by fever, upper abdominal pain, enlarged tender liver with raised right dome of the diaphragm. The abscesses were located in the right lobe of liver in all cases, and they were solitary in three cases. Staphylococcus aureus was the etiologic agent in four cases and Escherichia coli in one. Open surgical drainage coupled with prompt parenteral antibiotic therapy in all cases seem to have favorably influenced the outcome. With a high index of suspicion pyogenic liver abscess in children can be diagnosed clinically without the aid of hepatic radionuclide scanning.