Percutaneous Ultrasound Guided Drainage of Abdominal Abscesses

Abstract

Intraabdominal abscesses are common surgical pathologies that result from a myriad of causes and require a high index of suspicion to diagnose. Majority of the patient’s present critically ill requiring surgical drainage. The traditional open surgical drainage is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Percutaneous ultrasound guided drainage which entails either needle aspirations or image guided catheter placements for a thick abscess is a suitable alternative to open surgical drainage. This study was aimed at evaluating our experience with ultrasound guided percutaneous drainage of intraabdominal abscesses in a Teaching hospital in north central Nigeria. Methodology Consecutive patients diagnosed to have intraperitoneal abscesses in a general surgery unit at Jos University Teaching Hospital over a 24 month period were studied. Results Twenty four patients were involved in this study. There were 14 males and ten females giving a male to female ratio (M: F =1.4:1). The mean age of the study population was 40+/- 19.3 with age range of 10-70years. Ten patients (41.7%) had abscesses in the liver, 6(25%) in the pelvis and 5(20.8%) were subphrenic in location, 3(12.5%) were psoas abscesses. Fifteen patients (62.5%) had their abscesses drained by needle aspiration while the remaining 9 (37.5%) were drained through placement of Foley’s catheters. There was no mortality in this study. In conclusion, percutaneous ultrasound guided drainage of abdominal abscesses is a viable alternative to open surgical drainage.