[Hepatic abscesses].

The authors analyse 16 cases of hepatic abscesses recorded in a 10-year interval. The difficulties in assessing the etiology and diagnosis, as well as in indicating an effective treatment are discussed. The clinical aspects and investigation methods, among which scintigraphy, arteriography and especially echotomography are extremely useful in making the diagnosis and in localizing the collection, are reviewed. The bacteriological examination revealed the presence of various organisms in 14 patients, the examined specimen of pus being negative in the remainder of 2 cases. The treatment was surgical in most of the cases (15) consisting in an abdominal approach or posterolateral with rib resection (1 case) and drainage. In 3 cases the intervention was extended to cholelithiasis which was the underlying cause of the abscess. The ultrasound-guided transparietohepatic drainage was performed in 2 cases. No death was recorded.