Klebsiella pneumonia-induced prostate abscess: How to work it up?

INTRODUCTON

Klebsiella pneumonia (KP) is related to a metastatic phenomenon from the originally affected primary organ. About 28% of patients with pyogenic liver abscess arising from KP suffer from metastatic complications. This study was done to define the clinical features of KP-induced prostate abscess.

METHODS

A total of 14 patients were diagnosed with prostate abscess based on clinical, laboratory examination and abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) scan from 2007 to 2013.

RESULTS

Among these 14 patients, KP was the dominant causative microorganism in 6 patients (42.9%), followed by Esherchia coli in 2, Pseudomonas aeroginosa in 1, methicillin-resistant Staphyolcoccus aureus in 1, and no growth in either the urine or blood culture in 4. Four (66.7%) of the 6 KP induced-prostate abscess had other concurrent abscess sites besides the prostate: liver in 3, kidney in 1, and perianal area with endogenous endophthalmitis that ended in loss of vision in 1 patient.

CONCLUSIONS

We report on the clinical features of KP-induced prostate abscess based on a small number of patients, which is the main limitation of our study. We believe that if the causative organism of a prostate abscess was KP, more workup would be needed to rule out the presence of an abscess in other organs, especially in the liver. Abdominopelvic CT scan would be a proper imaging modality.