Percutaneous abscess drainage in the management of sepsis.

Image-guided percutaneous drainage has become the procedure of choice for a wide variety of abscesses and other fluid collections, and is an invaluable therapeutic alternative for the management of septic patients. Growing experience, along with technical advances, has significantly broadened the potential applications of percutaneous abscess drainage. Important considerations include the use of modern imaging techniques to identify and characterize sources of sepsis, appropriate patient selection and definition of therapeutic goals, and dedicated involvement by the interventional radiology team. The current methods and applications of percutaneous abscess drainage are reviewed, both in general, and in terms of specific anatomic locations and disease processes.