Liver Abscess

A liver abscess is defined as a collection of purulent material within the liver parenchyma which occurs due to bacterial and parasitic and fungal infections. Hepatic suppuration has existed as a medical condition since Hippocrates first described it, but patients affected by this condition had no chance of survival during the pre-antibiotic period. The introduction of surgical drainage in the 20th century failed to decrease the death rate which remained between 60% and 80%. The disease has undergone substantial changes during the last thirty years. The development of cross-sectional imaging, the improvement in microbiological identification techniques, and the shift toward percutaneous, minimally invasive drainage have reduced mortality rates to between 5% and 30%. The rate of liver abscess occurs at a consistent level despite improved diagnostic methods because the condition presents itself to doctors in a gradual manner. The disease has experienced a major shift in its microbiological profile which now develops across different geographic areas and various disease stages. The primary cause of the disease evolved from portal pyeimia which resulted from appendicitis to its current state, in which biliary tract disease predominates in Western countries and hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae causes most cases in Asia. The review presents clinically useful information about liver abscess through current research which examines its pathogenesis and diagnostic procedures and evidence-based treatment methods, while especially focusing on how percutaneous treatments work and how multidrug-resistant organisms emerged.