Background/aims: Several studies suggest that pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) is associated with colon neoplasm. A colonoscopic exam for cryptogenic PLA might detect a hidden colon neoplasm, through which intestinal flora can be transmitted into the liver. However, there are no prospectively enrolled cross-sectional data for colonic neoplasm in cryptogenic PLA.
Methods: Patients with PLA were prospectively enrolled from two university hospitals. Among them, all the patients with cryptogenic PLA were recommended for colonoscopic exam to check for colonic neoplasm.
Results: One hundred eighty-three patients with PLA were enrolled in the study for 22 months. One hundred and one (55.2%) patients did not have a definite cause of liver abscess at initial evaluation. The median diameter of the largest lesion was 5.7 cm (1.0-14.0 cm), and 74.3% of the patients were treated by percutaneous abscess drainage. Ninety-one percent of the patients who had an identified pathogen yielded Klebsiella. Sixty-two patients underwent colonoscopic exams, and no one had a colonic cancer, one had an adenomatous polyp with high grade dysplasia (1.6%), and 27 had adenomatous polyps with low grade dysplasia (43.5%; 41.0% in male and 43.5% in female). Of fifty patients who underwent an esophagogastroduodenoscopic exam, nine had gastric ulcers, one had an esophageal ulcer, and one had hemorrhagic gastritis.
Conclusions: The prevalence of colonic neoplasm among the patients with cryptogenic PLA was not as high as that in previous studies. Further well-designed, large-scale studies are required to assess the association of the colon neoplasm and cryptogenic PLA.
Keywords: Colonic neoplasms; Liver abscess, pyogenic; Prevalence.