Abstract
There have been no case reports in which liver resection was performed for pyogenic liver abscess.
We performed right hepatectomy for liver abscess in a 79-year-old patient.
The reason why we performed right hepatectomy for this case in spite of diagnosing as the liver abscess, was that we could not exclude completely the possibility of liver cancer considering the consolidated tumor image on liver echogram and progressively increasing anemia.
The pattern of pyogenic liver abscess has been changing recently as follows: (1) the older age cases are increasing, (2) liver abscesses originating from the portal system are decreasing, (3) liver abscesses accompanying the obstructive disease of the biliary tract are increasing, (4) liver abscesses in which the causative bacteria are antibiotics resistant gram-negative organisms are increasing.
Considering these changes in disease patterns and the safety of hepatectomy, it is suggested that hepatectomy will be performed more frequently for the pyogenic liver abscess from now on.
