Tubercular liver abscess in immuno-competent patients.

Abstract

We report two cases, the first one a 35 years old male, chronic alcoholic, and the other, a 15 years old boy, who presented to us with fever, Rt. hypochondrial pain, with USG-Abdomen revealing multiple liver abscesses in the first, and a single large abscess in the second. Both patients showed leucocytosis and, mildly deranged Liver Function Tests. Aspirated pus was sterile, and the patients did not show any clinical improvement despite broad spectrum antibiotics and amoebicides. Re-aspiration of pus after two weeks revealed the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and both patients showed a dramatic improvement clinically after starting Anti-tubercular treatment. These cases are being reported because of the rarity of tubercular liver abscesses, and the importance of suspecting mycobacterial infection in patients of liver abscess not responding to conventional treatment.

• Authors: Balvir Singh, Pritul D Saxena, Vinay Kumar, Devendra Yadav, Preeti Rajpoot
• Journal: The Journal of the Association of Physicians of India (J Assoc Physicians India) Vol. 59 Pg. 523-4 (Aug 2011) ISSN: 0004-5772 [Print] India
• PMID: 21887915 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antitubercular Agents

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Antitubercular Agents (therapeutic use)
• Drainage
• Humans
• Immunocompromised Host
• Liver Abscess (diagnostic imaging, drug therapy, microbiology)
• Liver Function Tests
• Male
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis (isolation & purification)
• Treatment Outcome
• Tuberculosis, Hepatic (diagnosis, drug therapy)
• Ultrasonography