Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jun 28, 2016; 8(18): 757-761
Published online Jun 28, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i18.757
Clinical characteristics and progression of liver abscess caused by toxocara
Kyung Ho Ha, Jung Eun Song, Byung Seok Kim, Chang Hyeong Lee
Kyung Ho Ha, Department of Internal Medicine, Daegu Medical Center, Daegu 41845, South Korea
Jung Eun Song, Byung Seok Kim, Chang Hyeong Lee, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Daegu Catholic University, Daegu 42472, South Korea
Author contributions: Ha KH searched literature, drafted the manuscript, incorporated corrections by coauthors into final manuscript and organized details for submission of manuscript; Song JE and Kim BS supervised the manuscript; Lee CH contributed to writing the manuscript, reviews and corrections, final approval and submissions.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Daegu Catholic University.
Informed consent statement: Because of retrospective and anonymous character of this study, the need for informed consent was waived by the institutional review board.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Chang Hyeong Lee, MD, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Daegu Catholic University, 33, Duryugongwon-ro 17-gil, Nam-gu, Daegu 42472, South Korea. chlee1@cu.ac.kr
Telephone: +82-53-6503067 Fax: +82-53-6284050
Received: February 15, 2016
Peer-review started: February 16, 2016
First decision: March 24, 2016
Revised: April 7, 2016
Accepted: June 1, 2016
Article in press: June 3, 2016
Published online: June 28, 2016
Processing time: 130 Days and 12.9 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the clinical characteristics and progression of liver abscess caused by toxocara.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with serum IgG antibody to Toxocara canis and liver abscess diagnosed using abdominal computed tomography between February 2010 and February 2015. Among 84 patients exhibiting serum IgG antibody to Toxocara canis, 34 patients were diagnosed with liver asbscess and treated with albendazole. A follow-up period of 1 year was conducted.

RESULTS: Mean patient age was 53 (34-79) years, with 26 (76.5%) patients being male. Twenty-one (61.7%) patients were moderate or heavy drinkers, 23 (67.6%) patients had a history of eating raw meat or liver and 6 (17.6%) patients owned pet dogs or cats. Main patient symptoms consisted of right upper quadrant pain, fever, and fatigue; 18 (52.9%) patients, however, presented with no symptoms. Lung involvement was detected in 444 (11.7%) patients. The eosinophil count increased in 29 (85.3%) patients at initial diagnosis, and decreased in most patients after albendazole treatment. The initial serum IgE level increased in 25 (73.5%) patients, but exhibited various response levels after albendazole treatment. Liver abscess formation improved in all patients.

CONCLUSION: The liver abscess was improved with albendazole treatment.

Keywords: Toxocariasis; Liver abscess; Eosinophilia

Core tip: This is a retrospective study to evaluate the clinical characteristics and progression of liver abscess caused by toxocara. Eating uncooked food was a more common route of infection than contact with pet animals. Alcohol consumption, sex (male), and ingestion of raw meat or liver were considered to be significant risk factors for toxocariasis. Patients can present with no specific symptoms, eosinophilia, and/or increased levels of serum IgE. Liver abscess caused by toxocara has characteristic radiologic findings. Even if a few patients experience relapse or migration of abscess posttreatment, a good prognosis exists for the overall clinical course.