Comparison of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae liver abscesses.

BACKGROUND: Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are the most common causative pathogens of pyogenic liver abscesses. The objective of this study was to compare outcome between patients with liver abscesses due to E coli and those with liver abscesses caused by K pneumoniae; we also aimed to identify separately the predictors of mortality in the 2 groups.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 202 patients who presented with pyogenic liver abscesses caused by either E coli or K pneumoniae from July 2000 to June 2005. Outcome of the patients was analyzed by exact logistic regression with adjustment for baseline and clinical covariates. Significant predictors of mortality in the E coli and the K pneumoniae groups were investigated by multivariate analysis of demographic and clinical variables in each group.

RESULTS: Of the 202 patients (128 men and 74 women; age range, 19 to 89 years), pyogenic liver abscess was due to E coli infection in 55 patients and K pneumoniae in 147 patients. In contrast to patients with K pneumoniae, patients with E coli liver abscess were more likely to be older and female, have a biliary abnormality or malignancy, pleural effusion, polymicrobial infection with anaerobic or multi-drug-resistant organisms, a higher APACHE II score, and to have been treated initially with ineffective antibiotics; they were also less likely to have diabetes mellitus. The cause of K pneumoniae liver abscess was often cryptogenic. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and likelihood ratio of the presence of biliary disorders and coexisting malignancy as a predictive parameter of E coli liver abscess were 25%, 96%, 67%, and 5.45/1, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and likelihood ratio of the presence of diabetes mellitus with an abscess of cryptogenic origin as a predictive parameter of K pneumoniae liver abscess were 39%, 84%, 81%, and 2.36/1, respectively. There was no significant difference in mortality between patients with E coli and those with K pneumoniae infections (26% vs 4%; adjusted OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 0.63 to 27; P = 0.105). However, for patients with liver abscess caused by E coli, the APACHE II score at admission (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.6; P = 0.021), malignancy (OR, 26; 95% CI, 1.8 to 370; P = 0.016), and right-lobe abscess (OR, 0.0029; 95% CI, 0.00010 to 0.15; P = 0.004) were significant predictors of death, whereas uremia (OR, 52; 95% CI, 3.5 to 750; P = 0.004) and multi-drug-resistant isolates (OR, 26; 95% CI, 2.3 to 290; P = 0.009) were significant predictors of death in the K pneumoniae group.

CONCLUSIONS: A higher APACHE II score at admission and a higher frequency of coexisting malignancy may have contributed to the higher, although not significant, mortality rate in patients with liver abscess caused by E coli infection. Clinicians should begin with broad antibiotic coverage such as a second-generation cephalosporin and an aminoglycoside with metronidazole when treating liver abscesses with E coli as the likely pathogen due to the high frequency of multi-drug-resistant isolates among E coli isolates.