Pyogenic liver abscess in end-stage renal disease patients: a nationwide longitudinal study

Pyogenic liver abscesses in peritoneal dialysis patients: A single-centre retrospective case series

Peritoneal dialysis (PD)-related infection rates have improved, but serious complications such as liver abscesses remain an issue, posing unique management challenges including safety of continuing PD versus early PD catheter removal. Current literature describing this is unfortunately limited. This study aims to describe the characteristics, management and outcomes of liver abscesses in PD patients from a retrospective review of prevalent PD patients on follow-up at Tan Tock Seng Hospital between 1st January 2016 and 30th June 2021. A total of 11/383 PD patients (2.9%) were treated for liver abscesses. Most were diabetic (n =10, 90.9%), with a median PD vintage of 541 days (interquartile range: 310-931 days). Fever (n = 7, 63.6%), bacteraemia (n = 7, 63.6%) and concomitant PD peritonitis (n = 7, 63.6%) were the most common presenting symptoms. Majority of patients underwent radiological aspiration of abscess in addition to antibiotics (n = 7, 63.6%). PD catheter was removed in eight patients (72.7%), with the most common indications being empirical removal due to intra-abdominal abscess (n = 5, 62.5%) followed by septic shock (n = 2, 25%) and refractory PD peritonitis (n = 1, 12.5%). Only three patients (37.5%) remained on PD, as they did not develop PD peritonitis during their course of treatment. The overall mortality remains high with three patients (27.3%) passing away within 6 months of presentation. Liver abscesses in PD patients is associated with poor technique and overall survival. Absence of PD peritonitis appears to be a good prognostic factor, but larger studies are required to guide the optimal management of liver abscesses in PD patients.

Risk of pyogenic liver abscess and endoscopic sphincterotomy: a population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the risk of pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) in patients receiving endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES).

SETTING

A population-based cohort study using data from Taiwans' National Health Insurance Research Database was conducted. Patients aged 20 or older who had undergone an ES were considered as the ES cohort. The dates for the first hospitalisation of the patients receiving ES were defined as the index dates.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients in the ES and non-ES cohorts were selected by 1:1 matching ratio based on a propensity score. A total of 8174 sex-matched, age-matched and index year-matched (1:1) pairs of patients receiving ES and 8174 patients without ES served as controls. Cox proportional hazards regression was employed to calculate the HRs and 95% CIs for the association between PLA and ES.

RESULTS

The overall incidence of PLA was significantly higher in the ES cohort than in the non-ES cohort (4.20 vs 0.94, respectively, per 1000 person-year) with the adjusted HR (aHR) 4.50 (95% CI 3.38 to 6.58) A stratified analysis during the follow-up years revealed that when the ES cohort was compared with the non-ES cohort, they displayed a higher risk of PLA during the first follow-up year (aHR 4.35, 95% CI 2.26 to 8.39) which continued significantly over the next 4-5 years of follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients receiving ES are associated with having a higher risk of PLA.

Population-based cohort study investigating the association between weight loss and pyogenic liver abscesses

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Few systematic studies focus on the association between weight loss and pyogenic liver abscesses. The objective of the study was to assess the association between weight loss and pyogenic liver abscesses in adults in Taiwan.

METHODS

This population-based cohort study utilized the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. Totally, 8453 subjects aged 20 to 84 years with newly diagnosed weight loss between 2000 and 2012 were assigned as the weight loss group, and 33777 randomly selected subjects without weight loss were assigned as the non-weight loss group. Both the weight loss and the non-weight loss groups were matched according to sex, age, and comorbidities. The incidence of pyogenic liver abscesses at the end of 2013 was measured in both groups.

RESULTS

A multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model was done and presented evidence that the adjusted HR of pyogenic liver abscess was 2.47 (95 %CI 1.21, 5.02) for those subjects with weight loss and without comorbidities, as compared with those subjects without weight loss and without comorbidities. Among the weight loss group, 5% developed pyogenic liver abscesses within 3 months.

CONCLUSION

Weight loss is associated with pyogenic liver abscesses in adults. Yet weight loss might not be an early clinical symptom of undiagnosed pyogenic liver abscesses.

Predialysis chronic kidney disease correlates with increased risk of pyogenic liver abscess: a population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

The incidence of pyogenic liver abscess in Taiwan appears to be much higher than that in western countries. However, little is known about the incidence of pyogenic liver abscess among patients with predialysis chronic kidney disease. The objective of this study was to assess the association between predialysis chronic kidney disease and the risk of pyogenic liver abscess in Taiwan.

METHODS

This population-based, retrospective, cohort study was conducted to analyse the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 81118 subjects aged 20-84 years with newly diagnosed chronic kidney disease as the predialysis chronic kidney disease group since 2000-2010, and 81118 randomly selected subjects without chronic kidney disease as the nonchronic kidney disease group. The predialysis chronic kidney disease group and the nonchronic kidney disease group were matched with sex, age and comorbidities. The incidence of pyogenic liver abscess at the end of 2013 was calculated in both groups. Subjects who currently received dialysis therapy before the endpoint were excluded from the study. The multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of pyogenic liver abscess associated with predialysis chronic kidney disease and other comorbidities including alcohol-related disease, biliary stone, chronic liver disease and diabetes mellitus.

RESULTS

The overall incidence of pyogenic liver abscess was 1·65-fold higher in the predialysis chronic kidney disease group than that in the nonchronic kidney disease group (1·38 vs. 0·83 per 1000 person-years, 95% CI 1·59, 1·71). After adjustment for covariables, the adjusted HR of pyogenic liver abscess was 1·51(95% CI 1·30, 1·76) for the predialysis chronic kidney disease group, comparing with the nonchronic kidney disease group. In addition, the adjusted HR would increase to 3·31 (95% CI 2·61, 4·19) for subjects with predialysis chronic kidney disease and with any comorbidity studied.

CONCLUSION

Predialysis chronic kidney disease is associated with 1·5-fold increased risk of pyogenic liver abscess. There seem to be a synergistic effect on the risk of pyogenic liver abscess between predialysis chronic kidney disease and comorbidities.

Recent upper gastrointestinal panendoscopy increases the risk of pyogenic liver abscess

AIM

To investigate the association between a recent gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy and the subsequent risk of pyogenic liver abscess (PLA).

METHODS

We designed a nested case control study. Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 2135 patients with a first diagnosis of PLA were identified from 1998 to 2011. Another 10675 patients without PLA matched by age and sex were selected as reference controls. We identified and compared the possible risk factors for PLA and GI endoscopies performed before the index date (when PLA was diagnosed) between the two cohorts. Multivariate analysis was conducted to examine the risk of PLA within the 90 d after the GI endoscopies.

RESULTS

Patients with a history of diabetes [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 4.92, 95%CI: 1.78-13.61], end-stage renal disease (aOR = 3.98, 95%CI: 1.45-10.91), biliary tract infection (aOR = 2.68, 95%CI: 2.11-3.40), liver cirrhosis (aOR = 2.19, 95%CI: 1.39-3.46), GI malignancies (aOR = 5.68, 95%CI: 4.23-7.64), appendicitis (aOR = 3.16, 95%CI: 2.27-4.41), diverticulitis (aOR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.01-2.64), and recent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (aOR = 27.04, 95%CI: 11.65-62.72) were significantly associated with an increased risk of PLA. After adjusting for the above risk factors and the frequency of outpatient department visits and abdominal ultrasounds during 90 d before the index date, an upper GI panendoscopy (aOR = 2.75, 95%CI: 2.05-3.69) but not a lower GI endoscopy (aOR = 1.07, 95%CI: 0.62-1.86) was significantly associated with PLA.

CONCLUSION

An upper GI panendoscopy performed before 90 d may increase the risk of PLA.

Association between chronic pancreatitis and pyogenic liver abscess: a nationwide population study

BACKGROUND

The relationship between chronic pancreatitis (CP) and subsequent pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) is not well understood.

METHODS

We investigated the risk of PLA in patients with CP using inpatient claims data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program for the period 2000-2010. We identified 17,810 patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP group) and 71,240 patients without CP (non-CP group). Both cohorts were followed until a diagnosis of PLA, until they were censored from the study because of loss to follow-up, death, or termination of insurance, or until the study cut-off date of 31 December 2011. Incidence and risk factors for development of PLA, and the effects of comorbidities, were assessed.

RESULTS

The incidence of PLA in the CP group was 12.9 times that in the non-CP group (38.3 vs. 2.89 events per 1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 10.5-15.8). After adjusting for age, sex, and the comorbidities of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cerebral vascular accident, cirrhosis, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, alcoholism, other diseases of the pancreas, cholecystitis, and cholelithiasis and other disorders of the biliary tract and endoscopic insertion of stent (tube) into the bile duct, the risk of PLA remained higher among CP patients than among the comparison cohort (adjusted hazard ratio, 6.40; 95% CI, 4.83-8.49). CP patients with five or more comorbidities had a significantly higher risk of PLA (adjusted hazard ratio, 24.9; 95% CI, 18.3-33.8).

CONCLUSION

CP was associated with increased risk of subsequent PLA. The risk of PLA was higher in patients with five or more comorbidities.

Splenectomy Correlates With Increased Risk of Pyogenic Liver Abscess: A Nationwide Cohort Study in Taiwan

OBJECTIVES

Little is known about the risk of pyogenic liver abscess in patients with splenectomy. We explored the relationship between splenectomy and pyogenic liver abscess in Taiwan.

METHODS

We conducted a nationwide cohort analysis using the hospitalization dataset of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. We included 17,779 subjects aged 20-84 years who underwent splenectomy in 1998 to 2010 (splenectomy group) and 70,855 randomly selected subjects without splenectomy (non-splenectomy group). Both groups were matched by sex, age, other comorbidities, and hospitalization year of receiving splenectomy. The incidence of pyogenic liver abscess at the end of 2011 was measured. The multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pyogenic liver abscess associated with splenectomy and other comorbidities.

RESULTS

The overall incidence rate was 3.75-fold higher in the splenectomy group than that in the non-splenectomy group (2.15 vs 0.57 per 1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval, 3.57-3.94). After controlling for potential confounding factors, the adjusted hazard ratio of pyogenic liver abscess was 3.89 in subjects with splenectomy (95% confidence interval, 3.20-4.72) when compared with subjects without splenectomy. In further analysis, the hazard ratio markedly increased to 14.34 for those with splenectomy and having any of the assessed comorbidities, including alcoholism, biliary stone, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver diseases, and diabetes mellitus (95% confidence interval, 10.61-19.39).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with splenectomy are at an increased risk of developing pyogenic liver abscess, particularly when they have comorbid conditions.